


Hunter's Moon

by CatWinchester



Category: Loki - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fairytales Retold, Hurt/Comfort, Imagine Loki, Shapeshifters - Freeform, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 03:38:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 39,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8781507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatWinchester/pseuds/CatWinchester
Summary: Red’s once thriving town has been plagued by wolves for years, but the attacks keep people away and Red and her mother struggle to make their Inn pay. On her way to visit her grandmother she happens across the wolves’ latest victim, who is miraculously still alive. Loki is roaming, searching for someplace to call home, but the small mountain town was only supposed to be a stop on his journey,not his destination. Loki knows more about the wolves than the townsfolk do and in return for Red’s compassion, he feels compelled to stay long enough to help them. Is Loki the answer to Red’s prayers, or is he as dangerous as her friend says he is.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the following "imagine Loki": Imagine Loki being a werewolf, and falling for Red Riding Hood.

Red hummed to herself as she picked blackberries, one basket in her hand which she was filling, another empty one secured in her elbow. She would give the first basket to her grandmother, who lived on the other side of the forest, and fill the spare one on her return journey. 

She was known for her singing in her village but since she couldn’t help popping the occasional berry in her mouth, humming was all she was capable of right now.

The birds were singing in the canopies of the forest, which lined either side of the river she was walking alongside and although they were singing different tunes from Red, their songs nonetheless complimented each other.

The blackberry bushes lined the river for about a mile on either side and there was enough for the whole village to help themselves to. No one had ventured out of the village for a few days though, so there were plenty of nice, ripe berries just waiting to be plucked this morning. She was early too, having awoken before dawn and been eager to escape the confines of the village and stretch her legs, so although the sun was risen, no one else was about yet. She wasn’t surprised by this, after a full moon, it took about a week for the villagers to feel relaxed in the forest, especially in the early morning or late evening.

Red’s mother had many times implored her to be more circumspect but she simply couldn’t be; she was a free spirit and it was all she could do to confine herself to the village for three days and nights, and as soon as the sun rose after the full moon, she was itching to escape.

As she passed a break in the bushes, something flesh coloured caught her eye and she stopped and faced the forest, her eyes scanning for what had caught her attention. She gasped as her eyes alighted on a man curled up at the base of an ancient tree and she ran over to him. The light was dim under the canopy but up close she could see that he was horrifically injured, his chest, arms and legs marred by bites and scratches. He was also buck naked, with not a shred of clothing to protect his modesty.

“Oh, you fool,” she sighed, placing her hand over his mouth, relieved when she felt an exhalation, albeit faint. “Lucky, but still a fool,” she admonished him, keeping her eyes carefully averted from his imitate areas.

Some of his wounds looked deep but none of them seems to be gushing blood, so if she could get him to safety, he would probably heal up and be okay.

She put her baskets down and looked around her, wondering if she could fashion some kind of stretcher for him from some of the fallen branches, but she had no string and only a small knife to cut the branches down. No, that wouldn’t do.

She considered returning to the village but she was over half an hour away now and it would likely be at least an hour and a half before she could get him to the village where he could be treated.

No, there had to be a more efficient way.

She turned in a circle, searching for inspiration, when the hem of her cloak caught her eye.

“Of course!” She grinned, unfastening the button at the base of her neck and pulling it off. It was long, trailing only a few inches above the ground when she walked, and combined with the hood, should be just enough for such a tall man. Made of woven wool, it was also lined with silk, making it lovely and warm but also exceptionally strong.

The bright red cloak might never recover from being dragged over the forest floor but her cloak wasn’t worth a human life.

She laid the garment out beside him and after offering her apologies for manhandling him, she rolled him onto the cloak. Once in the middle, she tucked the cloak around him, protecting his modesty, then she took a hold of the hood began to drag him along behind her.

Once she had him out of the forest and onto the well-trodden and smooth path, their journey was vastly easier and she was making good time, considering she was dragging a dead weight. It was still hard work though and she was sweating long before she could see her village in the distance.

The community was surrounded by a stone wall, about nine foot high and topped by another three feet of wrought iron railings, each rod topped by a vicious looking spike but the real fortification was the ditch outside of the wall. Lined with stone, each month it was filled with dry wood, kindling, peat, coal, pitch, kerosene, basically anything flammable, and for three nights it burned. The only break was over the entrance to the village but at each full moon a row of grates was placed across the road and also filled with wood, completely surrounding the village in a ring of scorching protection.

Should someone arrive after the fires were lit they would be unable to gain entry and Red was willing to bet that was what had happened to her unfortunate passenger.

They did everything they could to alert travellers to the dangers. Warning signs lined the road to the village from all directions and at the start of the forest were warnings, not to enter unless you could reach the village before sunset. Evidently her stranger either hadn’t noticed the signs, had thought them hyperbole, or either miscalculated the time it would take to reach the village, or perhaps had been delayed. He might have had a horse that had thrown him or if he walked, a twisted ankle could easily slow one down.

At least he was alive. He would be hideously scarred but Red didn’t care about that.

You might think that callous of her but Red’s village was superstitious and she had long believed that, much like the wolves, bad things came in threes. Three injuries weren’t so bad, but three deaths would be a tragedy.

She was about 100 meters from the entrance gate when the gatekeepers spotted her and came out to help her. The gatekeepers were unnecessary really, they couldn’t keep the wolf out and in daylight hours, the gates were always open, but they stayed in case of highwaymen, although mostly they just offered directions to newcomers.

“Little Red, how’d you get out?” the taller of the two, Paul, demanded. “We’ve only opened the gates fifteen minutes ago, if that!”

“You know I hate being cooped up,” was the only reply she gave. “Help me get him inside,” she pointed to her passenger.

“Who is he?” the other gatekeeper, Billie, inquired.

“No idea, I found him in the woods. He must have set off too late and been caught in the woods overnight.”

They took over from Red and one clasped each end of the cape as they hauled the injured man off the ground. Red stretched out her arms, which were screaming in pain from the exertion.  

“Where to?” Billy asked his fellow gatekeeper, Paul.

“Ingram’s place, I recon.”

“Take him to the inn,” Red suggested, knowing that the doctor didn’t have room to keep patients in her home. “I’ll fetch the healer.”

The boys nodded and carried the stranger into the village while Red jogged ahead to fetch Ingram. As she reached the village gate she glanced behind her, checking one last time that the stranger was all right before heading in the opposite direction to the inn.

***

Alice Ingram wasn’t a real doctor but she was a skilled healer and she had apprenticed with her father since she was 16.

Red had known the healer all her life and this wasn’t the first time she had frantically knocked on her door, needing help.

“Coming!” Ingram yelled, so Red ceased knocking.

Although she had married fifteen years ago and taken her husband’s name, the village still called her Ingram, as her father before her had been known. No one questioned why.

Ingram pulled the door open a minute later, wrapped in a dressing gown.

“What’s wrong?” she demanded.

“I found a man in the woods, he’s been attacked by the wolf.”

Ingram took a step back and removed her robe, placing it on the hooks that hung near the door, then she grabbed a long, thick coat and pulled it on over her nightgown, then she plucked a case from the floor under the coat rack and turned to Red.

“Lead the way.”

They ran through the streets which were only just starting to come to life, and up the front steps into the Inn. Red’s mother, Juliette, was waiting for them, also dressed in her night things.

“I’ll get some hot water,” Red told them.

“He’s in room one,” her mother told her, leading Ingram down the hallway off the reception and into the first room.

Billie and Paul were arguing about what to do about his nakedness when the doctor walked in.

“Give me some room,” Ingram’s tone brooked no argument and they fell silent and stepped back.

Ingram pulled the cloak back and hissed as she saw the wounds, muttering, “Nasty.”

She examined him hastily, even turning him on his front so she could check his back and her initial inspection was finished by the time Red returned with a steaming bowl of water.

“Nothing life threatening,” she explained.

Red let out a sigh of relief.

“There’s a few that need stitches but with some disinfectant and rest, he should be fine.”

She took the hot water and began to clean the worst wound, then she sprinkled a yellow antiseptic powder over it, then she stitched the edges closed with a speed and precision that only came with practice.

“What happened to his clothes?” Ingram asked Red as she worked, who was still watching from the edge of the room.

“I expect they got shredded by the wolf,” Red answered, then her voice dropped to a whisper. “God only knows how long he had to endure it’s attack before he passed out.” She shuddered at the thought.

“Well, he’ll need clothes,” Juliette told her daughter. “He looks about as tall as your Pa so why don’t you see what you can dig up for him.”

Red nodded and headed for the door.

“Little Red,” Ingram called as she was I the doorway. Red looked back. “He could have died of exposure out there; good job getting him back here on your own.”

Red smiled at the praise and headed up to the attic, where her father’s clothes were stored.

***

Red submerged the cloth in the warm water, then rung it partially out. Ingram had cleaned the wounds but she was a healer so the bed bath fell to Red to give. Currently all he had protecting his modesty, was a pillow case over his pelvis. She was tempted to take a peak but she didn’t.

While out in the woods she had tried very hard not to notice that he was a man, so she had paid little attention to his looks. Now, as she wiped the dirt from his brow, she couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was. She was glad his face only had a few scratches that should heal without scarring.

His hair was as black as the night and fell to just below his shoulders. It seemed to have a slight curl in it. His skin was pale but not sickly so, just that of someone from a cool climate. His lips were thin but she had the impression that his smile was probably warm, although she was in little doubt that such defined features could also be as cold as ice.

She moved down to his shoulders and chest, taking care to avoid the bandages and dressings.

She was liking what her damp cloth revealed more and more. He was muscular but not overly so. His physique was built for speed, not strength, which is not to say he was weak. His body was nicely toned, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist.

She pulled the pillow case as far down, then as far up as she dare, but she stopped short of actually washing his privates. He could do that when he awoke. She rolled him over and washed his back, including the buttocks, which felt lovely and firm under her cloth.

Finally she brushed the detritus out of his hair. He’d probably need a bath soon but her work here would hold for a few days, until he was a little better.

She left him on his front while she rolled up her red cloak into the middle of the bed, then she rolled him back was able to pull the cloak out from under him, then she dumped it by the door.

Finally she spread a quilted blanket over his body to keep him warm.

“I’ll check on you later,” she said, feeling his forehead for signs of a temperature. Infection was his biggest danger now and she had to check regularly for the signs.

She bundled the dirty cloak up in her arms and opened the door but before she could exit properly, she turned back.

“Sleep tight,” she told him.

She headed to the kitchen at the rear of the inn and found her mother rolling out pastry.

“Are the breakfasts done?” she asked.

“None today,” her mother answered with a brave smile.

Their village used to be on a trade route but ever since the wolf came, people had begun using a slightly longer route that bypassed their village. Some people still visited, such as family and friends, plus they had a few wolf hunters each year, and some traders who visited needed accommodation, but business was nothing like it used to be.

Instead Juliette and her husband had begun diversifying, opening a restaurant in the hotel to cater to villagers who might not want to cook each night. As time went on and the visitors dwindled still further, local finances became tighter, so they had turned the restaurant into a tavern.

Now Red and her mother also baked to further supplement their income. They didn’t make bread as that would make them unpopular with the baker, Mr Tilley, but they specialised in cakes, pies, and other assorted sweet treats. They sold their creations in the tavern, to other businesses who could sell them on, and they took orders from individuals. The mornings were spent baking and Red made the deliveries in the afternoon.

Seeing her mother rolling out the dough made Red remember why she’d been out this morning.

“The blackberries!”

“We’ll make do,” her mother assured her.

“We’re too poor to make do,” Red bit her lip.

“Ack, what’s two pies?”

“Pre-ordered,” Red reminded her, although her mind was elsewhere. Her cloak needed washing but that could wait, and it probably needed a good soak first anyway. On autopilot she went to the washroom next door and ran some cold water into the stone sink, immersing her cloak into it with some soap flakes. She stirred the water slightly as she considered her options.

It would take her half an hour to walk back to the berries but she was fairly fit, she could probably jog it in less. Visiting her grandmother and taking her berries would have to wait until the next day, but she would worry terribly. “What about Gran?” she asked.

“I gave Billie a note, she promised to give it to Joe Warner when he heads out of town today; he goes right past her cottage and will drop it in for us.”

Red was pleased. “Well, I think I can get the berries and be back in under an hour.”

Juliette checked the clock. She was clearly tempted, unwilling to let a client down, but she also didn’t want to send her daughter out on such a long errand when she had already done so much today.

“I’m going,” Red ended any argument by leaving the kitchen, calling out a “Bye!” in her wake.

Juliette shook her head at her daughters antics but she was smiling.

She began with the apple pies, then she had an order for two peach pies, then she just had to hope that  her daughter was back by the time she was ready to make the blackberry cobblers.

Juliette sighed, wishing she could easily turn down two pies, but they needed every penny these days. Each year things got a little harder for them, not because business was getting worse, it was bad but it had been bad for a long time now. No, the problem was taxes. The town spent a fortune each month on its firewall and the taxes were crippling people like Juliette.

If she thought she had any hope of selling the inn, she would be off in a heartbeat, but it was all she had left and if nothing else, it was a roof over their heads.

This was not the life she and Archie had wanted for their daughter.

***

The baskets were where Red dropped them and she scooped them up and hurriedly set about filling the part full one. Once she had enough for today’s pies, she placed a napkin over the basket and tied it in place with string, that way the berries wouldn’t bounce out as she ran home.

She made great time, arriving back at the inn breathless but un under an hour.

“Little Red!”

She was too busy panting to tell Faruk to go to hell.

It was a good thing really, because she couldn’t afford to upset the most powerful family in Badluf, so instead she held a finger up, silently asking the visitor to wait as she made her way to the kitchen. Luckily he didn’t follow her.

She handed the berries to her mother, gulped down a glass of water and grabbed a rag to wipe her brow with.

“You alright?” Juliette asked.

Red nodded, breathing deeply a few more times before she spoke.

“I’m fine, but Faruk is in reception.” She rolled her eyes. “Hopefully he’s here to order something for a change.”

“Do you want me to-”

Juliette shook her head.

“I’m fine, it’ll only upset him.” She danced over and kissed her mother on the cheek. “And I expect those last pies to be in the over when I get back,” she teased as she left.

“Slave driver!” Juliette called after her, making her laugh.

Her laugh faded and her pace slowed as she neared the reception and she was quite sombre by the time she faced Faruk again.

“Mr Melville, what can I do for you this fine day,” she asked as she slipped in behind the counter. In her experience, a professional demeanour was the best way to handle him. It didn’t always stop him from getting personal but it was all she had to try.

“Stop calling me Mister, it makes me feel old, like my father.” His clothes were very fine, mostly silk, wool, and leather, giving him an unmerited aristocratic air.

“My apologies,” she bowed her head slightly. “What can I do for you?”

“I came to see how you were,” he huffed, irritated by her formal demeanour. “I heard you were cavorting about in the woods on a wolf night, bringing naked men back and getting yourself into God only knows what sort of trouble.”

“I wasn’t cavorting, I was picking berries, it was after dawn so the wolves were gone, and the man had been attacked by wolves and needed help. What was I supposed to do, leave him out there to die?”

Faruk shook his head but didn’t reply. Red was willing to bet that he would have left the stranger out there to die from his wounds.

“Did he hurt you?”

“He was unconscious, he couldn’t hurt me.”

Faruk huffed and turned to look around the reception.

“This place could use a new coat of paint.”

“We know.” Red’s smile became tight.

“And the carpet is threadbare in places. Honestly, it’s no wonder you don’t have many visitors.”

“Yes.” She had learned that it was pointless to argue with him if he was in this sort of mood.

He turned a full circle and faced her again, his eyes lasciviously tracing every curve, making her feel dirty. He then wrinkles his nose up and turned away, as though she repelled him.

“A new dress wouldn’t hurt either. Even if you can't dress this place up, men will forgive a lot for a pretty lady.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she assured him, her hands balled into fists at her sides to keep her from leaping over the best and punching him. 

“Anyway, I did have a purpose when I came here,”

“Oh?”

“Yes, we received word with this morning’s post; three tradesmen will be visiting Badluf next week for two nights. Please provide them your…” he looked around once more, still unimpressed by what he saw, “most _superior_ accommodation.” His tone suggested that they had nothing superior.

“Of course,” she nodded and wrote the details in the Inn’s ledger. “Your family are valued customers.”

Faruk didn’t speak for a while and the silence stretched on while Red wrote as slowly as possible, but eventually she was forced to look up.

“I do hope that when the time comes, you remember how much my family has done for yours.”

Her heart dropped, as it always did when he said such things. She didn’t reply because the words she wanted to say would alienate him forever. Instead she nodded, which he took as acceptance and seemed to relax him as he stepped closer to the desk.

He smiled warmly at her.

“I’m sorry if I was harsh with you but you have to understand, I was worried about you. You go gallivanting off all over the place, all alone, and anything could happen to you. If you could only feel how worried you make me, I know you would not continue to be so reckless.”

He reached out and took her hand, the one clutching a pencil which she had used to write in the ledger.

She knew what was coming and steeled herself to endue it, a task made easier because she knew that this was his form of goodbye.

He raised her hand to his lips and placed a rather wet kiss on her knuckle, all the while maintaining eye contact with her. It was all she could do not to pull her hand away but somehow she also kept a slight smile on her lips, although it felt like a grimace.

Blessedly he finally let her hand go and stepped backwards. He backed all the way to the door, as if unwilling to look away from her beauty. Red recognised it for the deceptive façade it was, designed to make her feel special or wanted or something. Instead it just made her feel uncomfortable.

As surreptitiously as she could behind the desk, she rubbed her wet knuckle against her skirts, praying Faruk would back onto the door frame, or trip down the stairs, or anything to make him look foolish.

“Until we meet again,” he bowed in an imitation of chivalry and Red tried not to roll her eyes.

Then eventually, after what felt like an eternity, he turned and left through the open front doors.

Red visibly sagged once he was out of sight. She knew she would marry him one day, just not for a long, long time, she hoped. Right now, while Faruk wanted to lay claim to her, he didn’t want to marry anyone, he was far too busy sowing his wild oats. She hoped that this phase of his life lasted for an eternity and that he never wanted to settle down.

She needed some tea and a cake but first she wanted to check on their visitor, so she grabbed his room key and let herself in.

She squealed as she saw his bare bottom and hid behind the door, although she didn’t close it.

She swallowed and tried not to think of how the light from the window played over the muscles in his back.

“Uh, Sir?”

“Apologies,” he replied, “I was just searching for my things.”

“You didn’t have any things,” she explained. “But I left some clothes for you on the dresser. I think they’ll fit.”

“Ah, I see them.” His next words were slightly muffled in places and she hoped that meant he was getting dressed. “I’m sorry for the embarrassment but if you wouldn’t mind remaining, I have some questions.”

“Of course, just let me know when you’re decent.” She closed her eyes in shame but instantly saw a vision of his back and that wonderfully pert bottom. She hastily opened them again.

“Uh, can I get you anything?” she asked, eager to have a little respite before seeing him again.

“Answers are all I seek right now. Right, I hesitate to call myself decent, but I am clothed if you’d like to come in.”

She opened the door again , although she poked her head around it, as if unsure that he was being honest.

In truth, he looked even more attractive while clothed than he did naked. Okay, maybe equally attractive. She had brought him two complete outfits, one of a dark green shirt and black breeches which she thought would match his colouring, and a second with a white shirt and fawn breeches, which were the colours most people wore. He had opted for the black and green option.

The boots were black and knee length, and she could only hope that they fit since their size had long since been worn away.

Her mouth was hanging open slightly at the sight of him and as soon as he noticed, she snapped her jaw shut with an audible click of teeth.

“Everything fits perfectly,” he smiled at her.

“Even the boots?”

“Yes, even they. Thank you.”

“It was more luck than judgement,” she explained, “They’re my father’s clothes, all we had to hand.”

His eyes were kind but slightly wary, she noted, although she couldn’t blame him for that, she too would be wary if she had woken up in a strange place.

Suddenly the reason for him being here occurred to her and she gasped.

“Oh my gosh, you should be in bed!” she said, rushing forward and grabbing his arm to drag him over towards the bed.

“I’m fine,” he tried to assure her, resisting her efforts.

“You have some deep wounds,” she argued. “You need to rest up and let them heal or who knows additional what damage you could do. Truth be told, I’m surprised to see you up at all.”

“It’s not in my nature to be still for too long,” he confided.

Although she had stopped trying to drag him, she realised she was still clutching his arm and reluctantly, she dropped it.

“I’ll fetch Ingram them, she’s our healer, perhaps she can talk some sense into you.”

“How about if we compromise,” he said, seemingly amused by her worry. “I won’t stay in bed but I promise not to overdo things.”

Red considered it for a moment then nodded. “All right.”

“Thank you.” The stranger smiled at her and her heart skipped a beat at the sight.

She shook herself out of her daydreams before she could make too big a fool of herself.

“You wanted to know what happened?”

“Yes.” He placed a hand over one of his abdominal wounds and with a wince, sat down on the bed. She pulled up the chair that sat under the writing desk and sat before him.

“You were attacked by wolves,” she explained.

“Wolves?”

“Yes, they’re a real problem for our town. Surely you saw the warning signs on your way here?”

He shook his head. “No, nothing like that.”

Red frowned. “Where did you come from?”

“The west.” 

“A town called Tutuswich?”

“Yes, I spent the night there before continuing on.”

“And you took the mountain road?”

“Yes, I was told there was an inn but it was closed so I camped out in the old stables and continued in the morning. I gather that route is unpopular for a reason?”

Red looked exasperated. “That route used to be covered in warnings not to travel after sunset during the three days of a full moon. Vandals must have removed them. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s hardly your fault if vandals removed the signs.”

She gave him a half-hearted smile. “Do you remember anything of the attack?”

“I was riding but I was thrown when my horse was attacked by a wolf. After that, I remember nothing properly.”

Red cocked her head to the side, wondering why she suddenly felt he was being untruthful.

“You were found by the river, which is more than a mile from the road, so you must have endured a horrible ordeal. It’s probably kindest if you never remember it.”

He nodded but it felt as if he was simply placating her.

“What’s your name?” she suddenly remembered to ask.

“Loki. And yours?”

“Everyone calls me Red.”

“Then I thank you for your hospitality, Red, and for the medical treatment.” He pointed to one of his bandaged, although it wasn’t visible under his dark shirt. “Perhaps you could tell me who discovered me so that I might thank them also.”

“I found you,” she smiled. “And let me just say, you are a lot heavier than you look!” she teased.

Loki laughed laughter. “My apologies then, and thank you, again.”

Red found herself blushing under his praise and she his hungry gaze made her look away.

“You, uh… you must be hungry after such an ordeal.”

“Now that you mention it, I am rather. Is there an eatery around here?”

“Yes but Ingram says you shouldn’t move far for at least a week, so how about I bring you something to eat in your room?”

Loki shrugged affably. “Whatever you think best.”

“Are sandwiches all right? The evening stew is still being prepared.”

“That will be fine,” he assured her looking around.

“Can I help you with something?”

“I was looking for my money pouch, but if I was found naked…”

“There was no purse,” she said.

“I don’t suppose my horse has been found, has she?”

“Not that I know of, but I can ask around for you.”

“I’d appreciate it. She’s black with a white star on her forehead and when she’s inclined to, answers to the name Raven.”

“Please be assured that I do have the money to pay for any inconvenience I cause you, but it may take me some time to receive the funds. Might I impose on your hospitality a little longer?”

Red smiled indulgently. “Mr Loki-”

“Just Loki.”

“All right then, ‘just Loki’,” she teased. “No decent human being would charge for helping someone in need. You may stay as long as you like, it’s no imposition.”

“You’re too kind,” he smiled at her, the one that made her blush.

“I’m not sure it’s possible to be too kind, but you are very welcome. Now, take it easy and I’ll be back with a meal.

***

Once Red was gone, Loki lowered the arm over his abdomen and huffed, giving up all pretence of being in pain. The wolf had hurt him very badly, that was certain, but he also healed quickly. Too quickly to be normal, hence the charade.

He raised his shirt and traced one of the claw marks, now scabbed over. By tomorrow morning the scab would have fallen off and he would be left with an angry pink scar, but that too would fade to silver before the week was out.

The wolf that attacked him had been frenzied, determined to kill him as quickly as possible and were it not for his own supernatural talents, it would have succeeded. The question was, why?

The wolf thought it was attacking a lone traveller but even so, it took on a horse as well as it’s rider. That sort of overconfidence was arrogant and stupid, especially for a lone wolf.

He went to the window and peered down into the street below.

The villagers passing all appeared dowdy and poor so he wondered if he was in a bad part of town. It was possible but the buildings opposite looked quite large; fairly rundown but not the tenements or tiny cottages of the poor.

Loki had been planning on passing straight through, perhaps staying a night or two here to rest his horse before continuing on, searching for a place to call home, but those plans would have to wait now. Besides his lack of horse, money and personal effects, something was very wrong in this place and he had a feeling that it had something to do with the wolf.

He felt honour bound to try help them but first he needed information. Lots of it.

Luckily for him, Red seemed like the type to be easily charmed, so hopefully he could sweet talk the truth out of her. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Red ran down the steps to the kitchen, making her mother smile.

“Slow down,” she admonished with humour.

“He’s awake,” Red replied, dashing into the pantry and emerging with an armful of supplies.

“He is?” Juliette watched as she ran about, collecting the bread, two knives, butter and various other sundries.

“I was surprised too. He was walking about when I went in, although he did seem pained after a while. He must be in agony.”

“I’m sure,” Juliette agreed.

She sat down at the kitchen table, opposite her mother, who was slicing the cheap cut of beef into squares. By slow cooking the stew for many hours, no one would realise how cheap the meat was. 

She watched as Red cut six slices of bread and proceeded to prepare three overfilled sandwiches of beef and horseradish, ham and sweet pickle, and cheese with tomato pickle.

“The pies will be ready for delivery shortly and I’ve fetched the eggs in but Moo Moo still needs milking when you return. She’ll be getting quite uncomfortable by now. Then the vegetable garden must be watered.”

Red glanced at the clock.

“I’ll be as quick as I can,” she promised, slightly downhearted that she would only have time to give the stranger his lunch before she had to run out again.

“I know you will.”

“I don’t suppose you can spare a slice of tonight’s pie for our visitor?”

“Is it a man you’re feeding, or a horse?” Juliette replied, only partly in jest.

“He’s just been attacked by a wolf, mama, I think a little treat is not too much compensation.”

Her mother hesitated.

“Aren’t you the one who told me that kindness was its own reward?”

Juliette deflated at the memory; she had said before they fell on hard times, when they could afford to be generous.

“All right but just be sure is isn’t every day. We can afford to lose a groat, but not one every day. The taxes are due again soon.”

“Of course.” Red sobered and nodded. “I’m sorry. Forget about the pie.”

“Nonsense.” Juliette got up and cut a slice from the large pie that would be served in the tavern that evening. “You’re right, of course, I just get crotchety at this time of the month.”

“You know, most people mean something very different when they say that,” Red smirked.

Juliette threw a tea towel at her head, then fetched a tray for the food. Red took the sandwiches and pie up to their guest, placing the tray on the dresser and apologising for being in a rush. She wished she could have stayed a while but duty called. Perhaps she could talk to him more this evening.

She got back to the kitchen to see her mother wrapping the pies in cloth and loading them into basket designed to allow the pies to be stacked on top of each other, almost like on shelves. She placed the wicker shelf over last pie and placed the final one on top.

“They’re in order of your deliveries, starting at Dade Street.” She handed Red the list and the basket.

Red kissed her mother’s cheek and ran off, calling that she would be back soon.

***

When Red got back to the Inn she saw Loki limping his way through reception before she had even climbed the front steps.

“I thought I told you to rest,” she huffed as she entered, her basket swinging from her left hand.

He smiled at her, which only irked her further.

“You shouldn’t be up yet, you could pull your stitches out.”

“I’m fine,” he assured her. “But had I stayed in that room, with nothing to do for much longer, I might have gone mad.”

“Oh,” she groaned, her anger felling and causing her to deflate. “I’m so sorry, I should have thought of that. We do have some books, shall I bring you a selection?”

“Can I not see and pick for myself?”

She hesitated. “It’s  just that out rooms are in the basement and I’m not sure you should be doing stairs yet.”

“As you wish.” He nodded but he looked crestfallen.

Red bit her lip as she looked at the clock.

“I…” she looked back to him and the forlorn image he presented decided her. “I suppose, if you take it slowly, then there is no harm.”

“Do you have somewhere to be?” he asked.

“It’s nothing,” she brushed his words aside. “Come, the stairs to the basement are behind the reception desk.”

Unfortunately the staircase was narrow and steep.

“Please be careful,” she said as she started down.

Red was well used to running up and down dozens of times a day but with an injured man in her company, she lamented that they had never installed a better staircase. As such she left the upper door open to give Loki more light, and went down slowly so that he didn’t rush to keep up. At least they had installed handrails.

Despite not needing it, Loki smiled at the care she was taking with him.

“Are you all right?” she asked as he reached the bottom.

“I’m fine,” he made himself sound a little short of breath, as if one staircase had winded him slightly.

She led him down a short corridor, pausing by the kitchen.

“That’s my Mum, Juliette,” she told Loki, gesturing to a raven haired woman who was wiping down the counter tops. “Mum, this is my mysterious stranger, Loki. I’m just taking him to choose a book since that’s the only way he’ll agree to stay in bed.”

“Stay in my room,” he corrected with an easy smile. “I never said I’d stay in bed.”

“Just like my husband,” Juliette smiled wiping her hands on a dishrag as she approached. “I always used to say he’d get out of his deathbed one day.” Her smile dimmed a little but only slightly, and Loki realised that despite the wedding ring, she was widowed. She turned to her daughter. “Did the deliveries go well?”

“Fine,” she handed her mother a money pouch from her pocket, then handed over the basket.

“Don’t forget Moo Moo.”

“Moo moo?” Loki was forced to ask.     

Red’s cheeks blushed a bright shade of red.

“Red got to name the calf when she was a girl, she’s been Moo Moo ever since.”

Red all but turned her back, willing her blush to fade. Why hadn’t she listened to her parents when she was young and picked a better name?  

“I have to milk her and I’m running late today.” That was an understatement, she always milked her before noon.

“Yes, I must be a terrible inconvenience to you both,” Loki frowned and looked to Juliette. “I cannot pay at this moment but I will reimburse you, you have my word, and in the meantime, I’m very happy for you to put me to work.”

Juliette smiled, pleased by his offer. “That’s kind of you but I will not make an injured man labour. You rest up.”

“Well, I may not be ready to dig holes, but I can wipe surfaces, chop food, keep accounting ledgers, all sorts of things.”

“See how you feel tomorrow. For now, just take it easy.”

“As you wish,” he nodded.

“If you’re lonely though, you’re welcome to join us for dinner down here.”

“Thank you for the offer, I appreciate it.” Juliette looked to the clock, then at her daughter. “John won’t be here for a few more minutes, you go and see to Moo Moo and I’ll see to Loki.”

Red seemed relieved to have an excuse to leave and after a glance at Loki to make sure he was okay with being abandoned, she accepted.

“Excuse me.” She went into the kitchen and out through a rear door.

“You have a lovely daughter,” Loki complimented.

“She’s very special,” Juliette smiled at Loki. “Follow me.”

She led him into the living room, where an eclectic collection of books was stored on a few standing bookcases behind the sofa.

“So where were you heading?” Juliette asked while Loki browsed.

“What makes you think I wasn’t coming here?” he wanted to know.

“No one voluntarily comes here.”

“But you’re an Inn.” Loki frowned.

 “We get a few visitors, mostly merchants, but only perhaps five to ten a month. And it’s been a long time since we had ten. We’ve had to diversify.”

“Because of the wolf?”

Juliette nodded.

“How long has it been?”

“Twenty two years. I remember exactly because Red came later that year.”

22 years, Loki mused, that was a long time. And it also meant that Red was 22 years old.

“How often does the wolf attack?”

“Hard to say. It doesn’t take a human life often these days, we’re too cautious for it, and we bring most of the livestock inside the town walls, but it appears each month, like clockwork.”

“So it comes once a month”

“No, three nights, on the full moon. The folk law says that the moon drives them crazy and ravenous with hunger, so they come down the mountain in search of larger prey.”

“I see.”

“So?” Juliette persisted. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to know more about him, he was a stranger living in her house.

“I had no real destination in mind, I’m just travelling.”

“Just travelling?”

“Looking for my fortune,” he elaborated.

“And how does travelling lead to riches?” she asked.

Loki picked up a book and turned to the back inside cover for the plot.

“I never said the fortune I seek is monetary,” he pointed out. “The truth is, my family has a tradition. Each child, once they come of age, goes out into the world. They say to seek their fortune but really, they’re just looking for somewhere they feel at home.”

“And how do you keep yourself?”

“I had some savings with me but when they run low, I stop at a town I like and take a job for a while. The money enables me to keep travelling but the hope is always that I will want to stay in the places I stop.”

“How long have you been travelling?”

“Almost six months. I’m heading east for now and once I reach the cost, I’ll go north for a time, then head back west.”

“That sounds… lonely,” she admitted.

“It is.” He nodded sombrely.

“Then I hope you find what you’re looking for soon.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, I’ll leave you to it. If you  need anything, I’ll be in the kitchen, or upstairs in the tavern, getting ready to open tonight.”

“In that case, won’t you be working this evening?”

“The tavern is one of the few ventures that makes decent money, but two women can’t run it. We pay John and a young lad, Tim, to run it.”

“I suppose it is heavy work.”

Juliette laughed. “It’s not the work, dear, it’s the drunken villagers.”

“Ah,” Loki nodded. “Of course.”

“Take a few if you’d like.” She gestured at the books. “And shout if you need me.”

“I will and again, thank you for your hospitality.”

***

Red entered the kitchen with two partially filled pails of milk and was only slightly disappointed to notice that Loki was nowhere to be seen. She poured one pail into a large pot waiting on the stove. 

When the Inn was busy they had needed all their milk but for a while now they’d been selling the excess milk to local families for a few pennies, and boiling it first helped it to last longer. 

“Did Loki find what he wanted?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant. 

“He did.” Her mother smiled, pleased to see her daughter taking an interest in a man. 

“Which book did he take? Did you see?” 

“He took three, I believe.” 

“Oh.” Red busied herself getting the bottles, funnel and ladle out, wondering if she could ask ‘which books’ again without seeming overly interested in their guest. 

“I was surprised by the selection to be honest,” her mother added. 

“Oh?” 

“Yes.” 

Red silently cursed her. “Any particular reason?” 

“Well he took two fiction and one nonfiction. Odd, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yes…” She swallowed and willed her cheeks to stop blushing. Why couldn’t her mother just say which books? This was infuriating! “I, um…” she supposed she could just look at the bookcase. She’d read and reread most of them enough times that she probably had them memorised and could tell which ones were missing. 

“You alright, love,” her mother asked, and Red’s cheeks flamed brighter. 

“Fine.” 

“You seem rather… agitated.” 

“Just impatient,” she assured her mother. “We’re already late and this is taking forever to boil.” 

“No longer than usual, and we don’t deliver the milk until 5pm, so they can have a glass with their evening meal.”

Like them, many families were having financial troubles, some to the point where meat was a rarity. Milk was at least wholesome and kept the children’s bones growing straight and strong. 

Suddenly her mother laughed. “I’m sorry love, I shouldn’t tease you.”

“Tease me?” Red played dumb. 

“I can see you’re sweet on our guest, and I can't say I blame you.” 

“I’m not, I'm just… curious.” 

“To be honest, it’s nice to see you taking an interest in someone, anyone.”  Red gave up the pretence. 

“He’s not from here, Mum, I’m sure he won’t be staying.”

“Maybe, but you need to realise that there are other men out there. You don’t have to marry someone from Badluf.”

“It’s hard to meet people you didn’t grow up with when no one comes to town!” 

“Then maybe you need to travel, like Loki.” 

Red was no longer blushing with embarrassment, but she also didn’t want her mother to feel as if she was holding Red back, so she kept her back turned and stirred the milk. 

“I like it here,” she explained, which wasn’t a lie, she loved this town. She’d love it more if it were as prosperous as she remembered from her youth but either way, she couldn’t leave her mother, not while their finances were so precarious. 

“You have choices, Red, I just want you to know that you always have choices.”

Red turned and faced her mother. “I know, and I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Juliette smiled, deciding to put her daughter out of her misery. “And you can ask Loki about the books at dinner, I invited him to join us.”

The look of panic on Red’s face almost made her mother laugh but she knew her daughter would feel humiliated if she did. 

“Why? Why would you do that?” 

“Well, because we don’t get many strangers in town and I thought it would be nice to chat to him.”

“He should be resting.” 

“I didn’t know talking was so taxing.”

Red huffed. 

“Your milk is boiling.” 

Red turned back to the range, where her milk was indeed bubbling nicely. She left it for a few more minutes then removed it from the heat and decanted it into bottles before she set the second pail to boil.

***

Dinner that evening was a somewhat stilted affair to begin with, mostly thanks to Red. It was embarrassing to have dinner with the man you had a crush on and had seen naked, and your mother. 

While she found her tongue, Juliette eased the tension and made conversation with Loki. 

“Where are you from?” she asked their guest as they tucked into beef stew and bread. The beef was the worst quality possible but cooking it on a very low heat for hours had turned it tender and tasty.

“The Eastern Range.”

Juliette raised her eyebrows. “You’re a long way from home.” 

“Indeed.”

“So where are you headed?” 

“Home,” he said, a very slight smile on his lips as he glanced at Red, who blushed and looked down at her plate. 

“Then I suppose I should ask where you’ve been.” 

“Nowhere.” Loki looked to Juliette and pain filled is eyes for a moment. “I’m talking in riddles, I suppose I should explain.”

“You don’t need to explain anything,” Juliette assured him. “I shouldn’t pry.”

“You aren’t,” he assured her. “My, uh, clan has a tradition, which is that the second son of the ruling family leaves when his older brother takes over. I’m the second son, so I’ve left home to seek a new home.”

Both Red and Juliette were frowning. 

“They kicked you out?” Red asked. 

Before he was able to hide it, Red saw pain pass behind his eyes again. She wanted to know more but it was wrong to pry too much into the life of someone she hardly knew, especially since she knew those memories were painful. 

“I’m so sorry.” 

“Enough about me,” Loki smiled. “Where does one get a name like Red from?” 

“It’s a nickname,” she explained. “When I was a child Mum and Dad brought me a red cloak for my fifth birthday and I wore it everywhere. People just began calling me Red. They replaced it when I was 10 and just before he died, my father had ordered me a new cloak. I still wear that one today.”  Her mother’s face fell while they talked and she coughed slightly to get Red’s attention. 

“I took a look at your cloak while you were making the deliveries,” she admitted. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I don’t think I can save it.”

Loki looked from mother to daughter, wondering how the cloak had been damaged. 

Red looked devastated for a second, then she forced a falsely bright smile to her lips. 

“It’s okay. I suppose it was getting old and a little frayed anyway.” 

“How was it damaged,” Loki asked. Clearly it’s loss devastated her, despite her cheery façade. 

“I caught it on some branches in the woods a few days ago,” Red lied, not wanting him to feel bad over something he had no control. She caught her mother’s eyes, her expression warning her mother not to contradict her. 

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Loki told her. 

Conversation stalled for a moment then, the only sound was the scrap of cutlery over plates. 

“So how long have you had a wolf problem?” Loki hit on a safe subject, and one he was dying to know more about. 

“About 20 years now,” Juliette replied, “Since before Red was born.” 

“And only for three nights a month?” 

Both women nodded and Juliette repeated what Red had told him earlier, about the moon driving them wild and bringing them down from higher ground.

Loki asked about safeguards and they explained about the wall and the fire wall, then he asked how many there were, and Juliette said they couldn’t be sure, but they had never seen more than three at one time. Next Loki asked why they hadn’t tried hunting the wolves. 

Both women looked down at their plates. 

“I’ve spoken out of turn. I’m sorry.” 

“It’s not your fault,” Red assured him. “They have tried hunting the wolves many times but to no success and at the cost of some lives. Then seven years ago, we’ll probably never know why, if he was hurrying home, or maybe he forgot it was the full moon, but March Talley was out in the woods after dark. They convened another hunting party the next month and my father was among them. He managed to kill a wolf.” She paused and look a long sip of her drink. “It was a small one, they said, but the first one we’d ever managed to kill. They went out again the next night but…”

“Four were killed that night,” Juliette took over the story. “That alone is bad enough, but the next morning we found Peet Melville, the youngest son of our mayor. We think he followed his father and brother, wanting to hunt the wolf too, but was caught by one of the hunters arrows.”

Loki remained silent for a beat guessing that Red’s father was one of those killed. “I’m so sorry.” 

Red forced a smile onto her lips. “He died a hero.”

“That’s a cold comfort.” 

“So it is,” Juliette whispered. 

Loki wondered when he could question them on a few details that stood out, but he decided to wait until another day. If he was right, he had about 25 days in which to figure things out. 

“This is a wonderful stew,” he told Juliette. “And thank you, both of you, for your hospitality.”  Both women gave him a slightly sad but genuine smile as they spoke in unison. 

“It’s our pleasure.”  

“You’re welcome.” 

The conversation turned to plans for tomorrow and Loki mostly remained silent, enjoying the feeling of being in a family environment again. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Loki arose early the next day and re-bandaged his wounds. They were healed now, but he couldn’t afford for anyone to realise that; healing from such deep wounds in a day wasn’t a human trait. 

Although he was completely healed, he couldn't simply disappear; he had to stay at least a few weeks and pretend to be recovering, or suspicions would certainly be aroused.

Besides, this town was clearly being victimised by a werewolf, and that was dangerous for everyone, not just the humans. 

It had been a few hundred years now and humanity had all but forgotten about werewolves and magic, consigning them to myth and legend, but the born werewolves remembered being hunted to near extinction and they would not let that happen again. 

Whoever had attacked him in the woods had definitely been a werewolf, he was too large to be a regular wolf, and he knew what he’d smelled, but Loki needed to know more information before he could figure out who was terrorising the town. Hopefully the bright and bubbly Red would be happy to supply him what he needed, and he found himself looking forward to seeing her again. 

Once ready, he waited in reception for her. She seemed surprised to see him. 

“Still allergic to resting, then.” Her tone was resigned but not harsh, she shook her head.  

“I would very much like to look for my horse and knowing how you worry, I thought you might like to accompany me.”  

“Loki,” she was hesitant. “I’d love to help you, but I have to go berry picking this morning. I only picked half of what I would usually for Mum, and didn’t pick any for my Gran.”  

“I know, I was there when you spoke to your mother. However I think that I have a greater chance of finding a horse out there, berry picking with you, than inside these walls.” 

Her lips twitched. Red couldn’t really argue with that logic. “You really should rest.”  

“I heal very quickly,” he assured her, “and I have changed all my dressings and cleaned all my wounds. I’m fine, honestly.” He raised one shirt sleeve so she could see the clean bandage he had applied. “I promise I won’t slow you down.” 

He could see she was wavering.  

“Who knows, with two berry pickers, I might even speed things up for you.”  He could see the moment she acquiesced in her eyes and he smiled.  

“Just go easy,” she admonished, passing him a basket.  

She led him out of the Inn and towards the river that ran through the town.  

“Forgive me, but isn’t the entrance to the town that way?” Loki pointed with his thumb.  

“Yep, but this is a shortcut!”  She grinned over her shoulder at him.

They walked alongside the river and Loki noticed that although the path beside it was on a slight incline, the buildings around were rising at a steeper angle, while they were now heading into a tunnel like structure. Only one side of the river had a path now, and it was so narrow that they had to walk single file. 

“Where are we?” he asked, unable to see very far ahead despite his excellent eyesight, but there was a little brightness, so hopefully it wasn’t a dead-end tunnel.  

“We’re under the mill, or we will be in a minute,” she explained. “The river powers the mill wheels.” 

A little further on he could see the water wheel, which blocked the path, and he watched as Red climbed around it on the wooden frame, so she was hanging out over the water.  

“Be careful,” he warned, knowing how slippery wood could be when wet.  

She reached the other side safely and flashed him a triumphant smile. “Funny, that’s what I was about to tell you.”  

He was tempted to simply leap around the wooden frame but that would raise suspicion, so he went slowly, wincing a few times as though his wounds pulled. Clearly the frame had been designed with people in mind, since there were plenty of easy hand and foot holds.  

“Are you okay?” she asked, her smile wiped away by worry. “We should have gone the long way around.”  

Loki was sorry to have sent her smile away but he tried to reassure her that he was fine, just a bit stiff, and they carried on.  

The river curved around downstream gradually until they came to a large iron grate that completely covered the space. 

Red withdrew a key and unlocked it. 

“It’s to keep the wolf out,” she explained. “The trouble is, debris gets caught on the gate and can cause blockages. My dad was one of the men who used to help clear it periodically and he brought me down a couple of times to help him. After his death, no one asked for his key back.”  

The tunnel stretched for another 500 feet or so after the grate but eventually they emerged onto a lush riverside and as Loki looked back, he saw that the tunnel over the river was covered in grass which soon melded seamlessly with the hill that the town was built on. The town wall stood about a quarter of a mile away.  

It answered his questions about whether the town was truly impenetrable or not, once the fires were lit. Clearly someone in the know could still get in and out. If there was one tunnel, there might be more.  

They walked on a little further until they came to the blackberry brambles and they began picking, each filling a basket.  

“So tell me about some of the places you’ve seen,” Red asked as they worked.  

“Like what?”  

“I don’t know, anywhere.” 

“Where have you been?” he asked.  

“The furthest I’ve been was two towns over, and I haven’t been able to leave the village at all for ages, so anything you tell me about the wider world will be completely fabulous and totally exotic to a country girl like me.”  

He smiled at her humour. 

“Well, there’s Lundinium, which is huge. Truly, it’s massive, with great towering buildings six and seven stories high. The streets are thronged with people at all hours, day or night, the noise hardly abates, it just changes from market sellers calling their wares, to drunks calling for the unintelligible.”  

“I can't imagine being surrounded by such industry.”  

“It’s interesting for a time,” he admitted, “But I’m a country boy at heart too, and I found the noise and crowding grating after a time.”  

“What’s your home like” she asked, smiling at him, then her features fell. “Oh gosh, I forgot, sorry. Was that an insensitive question?”  

It might have been, if not for her clear worry about how he would take it. He laughed instead, pleased that she wanted to know more about him.  

“My town was small, probably more of a village to be honest, about half the size of Badluf.” He aimed a thumb behind them at her town. “We’re a simple people on the whole, pretty self-sufficient, but happy to barter with others for what we don’t have. Most people were arable farmers, growing enough for themselves, their families, and a little extra to trade.” 

“You must have had other jobs.”  

“Oh, there’s the usual, a tavern that brewed its own beers, now that was very popular; a store that could get just about anything, given enough time, and they bartered or took cash. Then we had spinners, a candle maker, a saddler, the usual kind of thing.”  

“Butcher,” she said, thinking about the leather a saddler would use. 

“Actually, most families butchered their own meat,” he said, and while the small smile at the edge of his lips unnerved her slightly, she just assumed it was a happy family memory.  

Red couldn’t butcher large animals, but she’d skinned and butchered enough rabbits in her time to have some happy memories of time spent in the kitchen with her mother while preparing it.  

Suddenly Loki stopped picking berries, put his fingers in his mouth and let out an ear splitting whistle.  

Red looked at him as though he were a madman.  

“I just remembered why I came,” he explained. “I used to whistle for my horse sometimes, when he was out in the fields, and he’d come running.” 

“I should think they heard that in Tutuswich,” Red looked into the trees, trying to spot movement among the dark trunks. The leaves were about to turn into a riot of colour before falling off but so far, only a handful had succumbed to the autumn, so the canopy was as dense as ever.  

“I’ll keep trying,” Loki assured her. “How far away is your Grandmother?”  

Red looked around her and was surprised to realise how far they had come already.  

“Only about another mile and a half.”  

“And she’s safe out here, from the wolves?”  

Red’s shoulders dipped. “I don‘t think so.” 

“Let me guess; she’s adamant about staying and likes her independence?”  

“Yep,” Red nodded. “To be fair, her house is built like a fort, the doors are tree trunk thick and she has shutters over the windows, so nothing’s getting in there without an axe, but I still worry.” 

Loki paused in picking and studied her for a few moments. He’d met a lot of people on his travels, but few were as genuinely caring as Red.  

She noticed him staring.  

“Is something wrong?” she asked. “Do I have something in my hair?” her hand hovered over the offending hair, just waiting to be told what was wrong with it. 

“Nothing’s wrong,” he assured her, enjoying how her cheeks turned crimson at his words. Her nickname might have come from her cloak but it wasn’t the only reason it suited her.  

Before he could make her too uncomfortable, he returned to picking berries, his basket nearly full.  

Red smiled to herself as she resumed picking. She was surprised to realise that she quite liked Loki staring at her. When Faruk did it she felt unclean, but this was different. Loki was different. He didn’t make her feel like a possession or a piece of meat, his gaze didn’t linger on intimate areas, and his expression was warm and happy.  

She’d quite happily let him stare at her all day, she thought, especially if she got to do the same in return, watching him from the corner of her eye with a small smile of appreciation.  

Both baskets were soon full to the brim, and as Red tied the tea towels over them, Loki whistled for his horse again, but with no better luck than before.  

They turned away from the river soon after, taking a well-worn path through the forest. The trees were less dense here, allowing more light through and a few flowers to grow either side of the path.  

The incline was steeper now and Loki paused a few times, pretending to be winded or wincing.  

“I’m sorry to hold you up,” he apologised. “I didn’t want to make you late for a second day.”  

Red smiled. “You halved my berry picking time, so I’m not in a hurry.” 

The pace slowed to a slow walk and Loki periodically whistled for his horse, but to no avail.  

The trees thinned even further and Loki and Red emerged into a lush green meadow.  

“That’s Grandma’s house,” Red pointed to a small cottage and barn in the distance.  

“It’s beautiful here,” Loki said as he gazed around, and he wasn’t wrong. The lush green meadow sloped down slightly to the house and barn which, from a distance at least, appeared to be picture perfect, down to the woodsmoke trailing from the chimney. Behind the house, in the distance, snow-capped mountains framed the scene with their imposing beauty, completing the picture.  

“Isn’t it? I used to paint when I was younger. In the summer the meadow is just filled with wild flowers, then in the autumn I’d turn around and paint the trees changing colour.” 

They both turned around and walked backwards for a few paces.  

“In a few weeks the leaves will turn and the forest just becomes a riot of colour, it’s quite spectacular.” 

“I can only imagine,” Loki said and they turned to face her grandmother’s house again. “Unless you have a painting you’d like to show me?” he teased. 

“I’m not sure my paintings did it justice.” Red blushed. “But there is a painting of that view hanging in the reception at the Inn.” 

Loki thought back to his few trips through the lobby. “Do you mean the one opposite the desk, is that one of yours?” 

“All the artwork in the hotel is mine,” she blushed as she admitted it, which he found incredibly endearing. “It was a cheap way to brighten the place. Mum  _ will _ keep putting them up!”  

Loki was used to braggarts and bluster, so someone like Red, who did not blow her own trumpet and seemed slightly embarrassed by recognition, was a refreshing change.  

“You’re very talented,” he told her.  

“I… Thank you.”  

“You could be an artist, you know.”  

“Maybe,” She gave him a rueful smile. “But nobody in these parts has the money to spare for artwork.” 

_ ‘Not at the moment,’ _ he thought, more determined than ever to get to the bottom of their wolf problem.  

“She’s rather vulnerable in the middle of nowhere, isn’t she?” he asked as they neared the small cottage. 

Red pointed to the next hill. “The main road into town is just over that next rise,” she explained. “But yes, we worry. That’s why I always visit the morning after the full moon.” 

“And why not in the daytime during the full moon?” he asked, momentarily forgetting that he understood what was going on better than she did and knew that the wolves could not turn without the moon..  

“In case the wolves are still around. We don’t tend to leave the town during the full moon and if we do have to go outside, we go in groups for safety.” 

“Of course,” he played along. “Has anyone been ever been attacked during the day?”  

“Never.” She shook her head, then broke into a smile and waved as the cottage door opened and an elderly lady stepped outside.  

Red ran on ahead but Loki kept his pace even, allowing them time to greet each other. 

“This is my friend, Loki,” he heard Red saying as she pulled out of a hug. “He didn’t see the signs and was attacked, so he’s staying with us until he’s recovered.” 

The grandmother turned two beady black eyes on him. Her gaze went from his head to his feet and back.  

“Those’re my son's clothes,” she noted, but he couldn’t tell from her tone or her expression if that was a good thing in her mind or not.  

“Yes,” he agreed. “I’m afraid I lost my own wardrobe when my horse was frightened off.” He offered her his hand to shake. “I’m Loki.”  

She looked down at his hand, almost as if it might bite her, then she gripped it tightly and stared into his eyes. Loki froze, not knowing quite how to react to this woman; she wasn’t a threat but her behaviour also wasn’t quite normal.  Her attention was quite focused, and it made him the slightest bit nervous.

His hand began to tingle and after an interminable few moments, she broke into a wide smile. “You’re a good boy,” she told him, patting the back of his hand with her free one.  

Finally she released him and stepped back.  

“Well come in, come in,” she ushered them inside the cottage, taking care to hold the door wide open and closing it behind them. “Sit down, sit down; the kettle’s boiled, tea’s brewing and I’ve got three brace of rabbits for you to take home,” she told them as she pottered about her kitchen. She turned to them and a beady but friendly eye settled on Loki, who was sitting beside Red. “I might also know something about your horse.” 

Loki sat up straighter. “You’ve seen him?”  

“What’s he look like?” 

“He’s a black Hanoverian, sixteen hands, small white star on his forehead, and answers to the name Raven, when he’s so inclined. Have you seen him?”  

She cackled with laughter. “I’ve done more than seen him, he’s in my barn, eating me out of house and home!” She didn’t look displeased by that fact. “Follow me, I’ll take you to him.”  

She led the out the back of the cottage, once again holding the door wide and taking care to close it after Loki and Red. They crossed a small yard to the barn, which was smaller than most such structures and just as fortified as the house. 

As he approached the barn, his acute sense of smell detected a metallic odour with just the hint of ozone. He paused for a moment, nostrils twitching and wondering if this was a coincidence or if the wood really was impregnated with silver nitrate, better known as lunar caustic, which burned werewolves. 

The grandmother had seemed friendly enough, but could it be a trap, he wondered? 

Raven whinnied then, and Loki decided he was being paranoid. Red’s grandmother had been perfectly lovely and besides, the faint smell might not be lunar caustic, there were many metallic scents and ozone was hardly unique either. Still, he was careful not to touch any wood, and he kept a wary eye on the grandmother.

Loki spotted Raven as soon as the doors opened and ran ahead to greet him, looking into the stall while he patted his neck to trying to see if he had any injuries.  

“He’s alright,” the old lady said, “A few scrapes and small cuts but none seem too deep.  I’ve cleaned and dressed ‘em, but I doubt your belongings have fared so well.” She went into the next stall, which was empty and used for storage, and emerged with a saddle, bridle and two large saddle bags, which she placed over the door to the stall.  

“Everything looks all right,” he noted as he looked at the tack. Sure, there were some scratches and bite marks, especially on the bags, but a good clean and oil could fix most of that. 

“Do you know, but I’ve been in these woods for generations and I’ve found a lot of stuff over the years, but not once since the wolves arrived have I ever found a coin.” 

Loki rummaged through the bags, which were less full than he remembered and the old woman was right, his money purse was gone, and so was the tortoiseshell comb his mother had given him when he left home. He checked the other bag to be sure his money wasn’t there either.  

“Damn,” he whispered. 

He waited until the women were chatting to each other, distracted, and pulled the saddle flap up. Secured under the girth flap was a second secret flap he’d sewn in. Lying between the leather flaps, a flat leather pocket was secured, which he wriggled free. There was something similar on the other side and he also removed that pouch too, then he discretely peered into each. 

_ ‘Well, at least I’m not completely destitute,’ _ he noted.  

One pouch held twenty gold sovereigns, laid out flat and side by side in the pocket so they weren’t too bulky, and the other pocket held a few personal items, including jewellery, which he could sell if necessary, and letters from his family.  

The coins were supposed to be his fund to start a new life with, to help him build a home and furnish it, to feed and clothe himself while he built up a business or trade. But he supposed he could cash one coin in, which should more than cover his stay at the inn, have his horse stabled for a month, and more to spare besides that.  

“Now, come and have some tea,” Gran said. “You must both be parched from your journey.” 

*** 

After being fed and watered, they left about an hour later and much to his chagrin, Red insisted he ride his horse since he was injured, and she would walk beside him. He was carrying her berries and the three brace of rabbits given to them by her Grandmother had been affixed to the saddle, but that hardly lightened her load much. 

“I wish you’d climb on behind me,” he said. “We could be home in a quarter of the time.” 

“And risk you busting your stitches galloping about the countryside?” she smiled at him, becoming used to his chaffing at the bit. “Maybe next time.”  

So he sat on Raven while she walked beside him and since it went against every instinct he had, it put him in rather a bad mood.  

“So how old is Raven?” she asked, just because the silence was becoming uncomfortable.  

“Six.”  

“Did you have her from a foal?”  

“Yes.” 

Silence reigned for a long moment.  

“Did you school her yourself?”  

“Yes!” he snapped. “Please stop with the infernal questions!” 

“I’m sorry, you must be uncomfortable.” She picked up the pace, exerting herself so she could get him back to town sooner, where he could take a completely unnecessary rest. 

“Thank you for coming with me,” she added. “It was nice to have company.” 

Loki pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a stress headache coming on.  

“Look, I get it,” she sympathised. “You’re used to being active and in charge and taking control of any situation. It must be difficult for someone like you to be hurt, but the more you rest, the faster you’ll heal.” 

Why did she have to keep harping on about his non-existent injuries! Didn’t she have any other topics of conversation?  

“I found my horse, that is worth more than a little discomfort,” he tried to reassure her. “Your grandmother was lovely. Unusual.” He knew family was important to her and he hoped he could convince her to talk about them instead.  

“Yeah,” she cringed. “I’m sorry I didn’t think to warn you that Gran can be a little… odd. I can’t even remember the last person I introduced her to so it’s not exactly a warning I give often.” 

Loki almost laughed out loud; compared to his family, Red’s Gran (as she had insisted he call her as well) was positively average.  

“She was lovely,” he insisted.  

“Oh I know, but the handholding can he a little… weird. She’s slightly psychic, or so she says.”  

That piqued his interest and for a second he wondered how much she had seen when she took his hand? Evidently not enough to warn Red off, but that didn’t necessarily didn’t mean she didn’t know the truth. Perhaps she hadn’t wanted to anger him.  

But she had been pleasant and friendly for the rest of the visit, and he had detected no signs of fear, such as sweating or a racing pulse.  

“Do you believe her?” he asked, his mouth feeling dry.

“Are you okay?” Red asked. 

“Yes, just thirsty.” He cleared his throat.

She took hold of Raven’s reigns to stop him and untied Loki’s canteen from the saddle, then she went and stooped to the river’s edge, leaning over to fill it. 

He gulped a few cold mouthfuls down as they walked on.  

“So do you believe your grandmother has psychic powers?” he asked again. 

“I think I believe her. Sometimes she says things that… well they’re not predictions, she just says them in passing, then boom, what she was wondering about happens!” 

“Such as?”  

“Oh, about year or two ago she was talking to me about her fears that the river might flood one day and burst its banks. We have run offs and flood defences in town, but if the arable land outside the town flooded, the crops might rot. About ten days later we had such heavy rainfall that for the first time in decades, the river flooded.” 

“Is that all she can do?” he asked.  

“She reads palms, but she admits that’s hokum. But I suppose she’s a really good judge of character. Although she says I inherited that from her, and I certainly didn’t, so maybe she’s not that good a judge.”  

She smiled up at Loki, evidently pleased at her joke and his heart fluttered for a moment, which worried him.  He managed a weak smile back at her.

He couldn’t be falling for her, surely? As nice as Red was, he had no desire to make an rundown place like Badluf his home. In fact, he’d go to quite extreme lengths to ensure that didn’t happen.  

While he admitted that he hadn’t seen much of the town yet, what he had seen was grey and grimy, the buildings all in need of a coat of paint or five, and if that wasn’t bad enough, the people appeared as gloomy as the houses. 

No, when he left home he’d been thinking of finding somewhere like the grandmother's house, surrounded by lush green pastures but not too far from a town where he could secure supplies, at least until he was self-sufficient.  

He really needed try to figure out who the werewolves in this town were, then he could move on with a clear conscience and find himself a home somewhere that didn’t feel as though he was living in a slum. 

Back at the Inn he settled Raven into their stable, their cow being evicted into the garden where she happily munched on the grass. Red explained that being inside for a few days each week, Moo Moo actually helped keep the grass trimmed which saved them a job. 

Red climbed the ladder to the upper level of their stable, while Loki removed Raven’s tack and checked his wounds. They were indeed very minor, but they seemed to have been well treated just the same. After he’d locked Raven in the stall, he gently stroked a finger over his soft muzzle. 

“A few days stable rest should set you up,” he told the animal, keeping his voice low and soothing. “I’m sorry they hurt you.” 

“Incoming!” Red called in warning, and he looked up in time to see a hay bale being thrown down beside him. She climbed back down after it and after cutting the twine, began stuffing some of it into a net bag. “There’s a feed store in town if he needs something more but the hay should keep him fed until we can buy some proper oats.” 

She tied the hay net to the wall just inside Raven’s stall and Loki realised that Red intended to pay for Raven’s food herself. He almost felt bad for not telling her than he had a reserve of cash but he didn’t want it to be common knowledge and he really should try to look like he was resting up and healing. 

“No worries.  Raven is quite used to forage, and does very well on it, don’t you lad?” Loki stroked the horse’s nose fondly.

She came out of the stall, pausing to pat Raven’s neck, while he collected his saddle bags, then they walked the short distance to the Inn. He headed straight to his room and when he left the door open behind him, she followed him in.

“So, is much missing?” she asked as he turned the bags upside down in the bed. 

“Aside from my money purse, most of my clothes seem to be gone,” he held up a shirt. The rest of his belongings on the bed seemed to be underwear, like socks, and two books, and some cloth so creased that Red couldn’t immediately identify what it was.

“Well you’re welcome to keep what we gave you and if you need anything else, we can have a rummage and see if my dad had anything similar.”

“You’re very generous.” He turned and smiled at her then looked back to his belongings, turning things over to be sure he hadn’t missed something. “The only really important item missing is a comb given to me by my mother.”

“Like a hair comb?” she asked, sounding confused. 

“Yes, but to comb the hair, not an adornment. It’s tortoise shell with a silver case. Very ornate. I admired it so much as a child that eventually she gave it to me.”

“I’m sorry, Loki,” she sympathised. Having recently lost her red cloak, a memento of her father, she knew exactly how he must feel. “Maybe Gran will find it in the woods, she’s always finding things out there.” 

“Maybe.” He sounded unconvinced. 

“Anyway, I’d better get on. You should stay here and rest.”

“I’d really rather help you and your mother; make myself useful.”

“That’s kind but not necessary.”

“Please.” 

She was wavering. “If you relax for the rest of the day, tomorrow you can help with some of the easier tasks. Deal?”

She held her hand out and more for the chance to touch her than because he accepted her deal, he shook the proffered hand. 

“Deal.” His groin tightened at the contact but he tried to ignore it, telling himself that the touch of any pretty young woman would result in the same reaction. 

“Good.” She smiled. “I’ll bring you some lunch and you’re welcome to join us again for dinner, if you’d like.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Loki woke abruptly from a dream, frantically checking to be sure that he was fully human and not stuck in his dream self. He lay back in relief. No tail. No upright ears. And most of all, no fangs!

It had been a very long time since he had transformed in his sleep, not since he was a young teen, in fact. What an embarrassing time that was, breaking out in fur all over the place. So undignified.

His dream had been so vivid. He was a bit surprised that he hadn't had nightmares about the vicious wolf attack that had nearly ended his life but instead he'd had a warm dream of chasing tails with his brother when they were young, play fighting and stalking each other, rolling around the floor in a noisy, furry scrum, under the watchful eye of their mother, Frigga.

He smiled as he recalled his dream self creeping up on his brother and biting his tail, making Thor yelp.  He wished now that he had done that more often, given Thor a crooked tail to remember him by...

Red tapped on his door (he could already differentiate her from others by her knock) pulling him out of his reverie.  He jumped out of bed and tugged on his trousers, quickly checking that all his bandages were still in place, although he only needed them for appearances sake. He opened the door, still sans shirt, and tried to hide his smirk as Red’s smile fell as she stared at his chest. She gulped and, pulling herself together, finally raised her gaze to meet his amused one. 

"Breakfast is ready, if you feel up to joining us," she said, blushing.

“I’d love to.” Loki grinned. It would give him a chance to find out more about the local wolves. 

“Don’t get too excited, it’s just porridge,” she barked, perhaps a touch too sharply due to her embarrassment at having been caught ogling him. “But we do have some honey you can sweeten it with, if you’d like,” she rushed on, as if to make up for being snappy.

“Sounds delicious,” he purred, pleased when her cheeks turned Red again. Teasing this woman was quickly becoming one of his favourite pastimes.  

***

“The boy who died with the hunting party,” Loki said as he and Red kneaded pastry. “What do you know about him?”  

He had helped her milk the cow earlier and now he was now helping her bake today’s pies, determined to help ease her burdens. She was mostly okay with his help, as long as he sat down and promised not to exert himself too much.  

Her mother was cleaning the tavern, which he had offered to help with as it seemed like harder work, but she turned him down in no uncertain terms since she was worried about aggravating his injuries. 

“Um, not much,” Red answered his question. “Peet was the Mayor’s son, he seemed like a nice boy. Nicer than his brother anyway.”  

“I was wondering how he got out of the town during the full moon.”  

“I wondered about that myself,” she agreed. “I suppose he found the way out under the mill, or the other end of the river, but that’s locked and protected too. I just can't figure out where he got a key, it’s not like the mayor’s family ever clear out blocked drains, such work is beneath them.” She sighed. “Maybe someone left the gate unlocked or something.”  

“Do they have any other children, besides Faruk?” 

“No,” she shook her head. 

Loki could tell that he was bringing up memories of a bad time in her life but he had to know.  He was almost certain that he knew who the werewolves were but he had to be sure. Right now he couldn’t figure out how the town had both a dead young werewolf and, if he was right, a dead boy on the same night. It was too much to be a coincidence but he couldn’t figure out how they had managed to convince the town that the wolf and the boy were different entities. The corpses of both had obviously been seen by the townsfolk, so why did no one wonder about the missing wolf corpse when, once the full moon set for the day, it would have changed back into a boy. 

Once he had that figured out, he could be certain of his conclusions. 

“And how did your hunters not see the child?”  

“I don’t know.” Red lot out a soft, sad sigh. “I suppose, it was dark, the torch light doesn’t go far, and he was probably hiding, worried he’d get in trouble if caught.”  

“But he didn’t cry out for help?”  

She shook her head.  

“Where was he injured?”  

“Right hip, the arrow went in just above the bone, clean through and out the back.”  

Loki winced. “Was there much blood?”  

“Ingram said he must have bled to death slowly. She was angry that she hadn’t had a chance to treat him and adamant that if he’d been brought to her, she could have saved his life.” She took a deep breath, using it to rein in her sad emotions. “She never told the family that though; it’s bad enough losing a son, let alone knowing that he could have been saved.”  

“How do you know that then, if you don’t mind me asking?”  

“Because I helped Ingram examine the body, the town had to be sure his death was accidental.”  

“You work as a nurse also?” he wondered where she found the time.  

“Only for dead people,” she admitted with a wry smile. “The town pays her to determine what killed some people, enough for her and an assistant to help her with things like taking notes, passing instruments… holding the rib cage open.”  

Loki looked up, surprised at that last statement.  

“Luckily for me, I’m not squeamish,” Red grinned. “Ingram knows the trouble that Mum and I are in and so she throws a little work our way when she can.”  

“But only for some deaths?”  

“Any traumatic, suspicious, or unexpected deaths need her approval before they’re buried. Unfortunately, in a town this small, not too many people die that way.” Her eyes widened as she realised what she had said, and Loki tried to hide his smirk, although he failed appallingly.  

“I mean unfortunately for me, not that I want people to die, just that the money comes in handy and…” she put her rolling pin down and buried her face in her hands.  

“I know what you meant,” he assured her, chuckling at her artlessness.  

Red began lining baking dishes with the pastry and Loki copied her. He’d done some cooking as a child because he liked to help his mother. It was nice to work alongside Red, as well.  “Faruk says my mouth is going to get me into trouble one day and I think he’s right.”  

“You don’t sound happy about that.” he questioned.  

“I’d rather Faruk was never right about anything if I’m honest, but I suppose that even a broken clock is right twice a day.”  

“So who is this Faruk?” The tone of voice she used when she spoke about him got his hackles up.  

“The Mayor’s son, and my future husband,” she smiled weakly, but it looked more like a grimace to Loki. 

“You sound even less happy about that.” 

“I don’t know.” Red dropped her pretence and sighed.  

“What makes you say you’ll marry him?” Loki probed.  

“Because that’s what he says. He’s been saying it for years now.” 

“You get a say too, you know,” Loki reminded her.  

He caught her eye for a second but she hastily looked away and got up to fetch the pie contents from the cool pantry.  

“Faruk is very wealthy,” she said, her voice quiet as she spooned the fillings into their cases. “And I know that’s a terrible reason to marry someone.” 

“But?” he prompted.  

“But I’m tired of seeing Mum so exhausted all the time.” She kept her gaze carefully averted while she spoke. “I'm tired of working and scrimping and making everything pay, only to have less than we had last month. I’m tired of the taxes rising to pay for fuel for the fire wall. As time goes on, the moments when I think he might not be the devil himself become more frequent.”  

“Don’t be ashamed,” he told her. “I know what it’s like to strive for an impossible goal, and I know how disheartening it is to never make any headway. Wishing it wasn’t that way doesn’t make you a bad person, it makes you human.” 

She dared to look into his eyes and whatever she saw there must have convinced her of his sincerity because she offered him a shy smile.  

“So it was Faruk’s brother who died, right?” 

She nodded. “That was one of the few times I’ve seen him show a genuine emotion.”  

She didn’t seem to like Faruk at all and Loki wondered just how desperate she would have to be to consider marrying such a man. 

“So tell me about the wolf your father killed,” he changed the subject slightly trying to confirm his suspicions of the events on that unfortunate night. 

“What about it,” she frowned.  

“What happened to it?”  

She looked confused.  

“I just thought that since they’ve been such a bane in your lives, the village might have pitted the head on a pike or something,” he lied. “Revelling in the kill, as it were.”  

“How gruesome,” she shuddered. “I think some might have liked that, but the Mayor had burned the body before it could be suggested.” 

“Like a Viking burial?” he asked, picturing a pyre.  

“No, just in their fireplace, I think. The mayor, Angra, emptied a sack of charred bones in the town square.  She said she was worried that keeping the body around might spread disease so she took  matters into her own hands. But you’re right in a way, the bones are buried across the town entrance, as if they’ll somehow ward off other wolves or something.” 

Loki had been wondering about the logistics but now he had an idea.  

“Did she seem all right?” he wondered. 

“No, she was a wreck,” Red replied sadly. “She held it together but she’d clearly been crying. They’d discovered Peet was missing when they got home the night before and they’d looked everywhere they could think of, so they called a town meeting to organise search parties to look for him in the places that hadn’t been searched in town and the forest, just in case.” 

“Yet she still found the time to cremate the wolf corpse.” 

Red looked up, her expression confused. “I guess she must have done that before they realised Peet was missing.” 

“Did you see the wolf?” Loki asked.  

“I saw Ebbe carrying it in on his shoulders-” 

“Ebbe is?”  

“The Mayor’s husband, he owns a few businesses in town.” 

“Then what happened to it, after the men got back?” he asked.  

“I’m not sure, everyone was so happy, singing and dancing.  I guess he must have taken the wolf home with him, but I didn’t see it.”  

And the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. 

He paused as he realised that not only were the Melvilles the werewolves, they must have killed Red’s father. 

He was tempted to tell her. She had a right to know, after all, but the chances are she would think him as crazy as her Gran if he started talking about the supernatural and even if he could get her to believe his story, well then he would surely be hunted along with the Melvilles. Humans didn’t differentiate between good werewolves and bad werewolves. As far as they were concerned, supernatural equalled evil. 

Saddened by his realisation, he turned away and went to the sink to wash his hands as the silence stretched on. 

Red placed the pies in the oven and turned back just as he returned to the table. Evidently she had decided that a change in subject was called for.

“After lunch I’m taking Moo Moo outside the town walls to graze on the hillside,” she said. 

“Is it safe for her?” he asked.  

“Perfectly,” she smiled. “We tether her to a post near the edge of the forest and I visit her out there each day. Hay is expensive so we only bring the livestock in around the full moon, the rest of the time they graze on the hillside. I should have taken her out yesterday but-” she shrugged, unwilling to remind him of the additional work he’d created for her.  

“What if she gets into trouble?” 

“We’re not the only ones, there are about thirty families who have one or two livestock and we tend to tether them in the same area. Someone or other is out there most of the day and if there’s an animal in distress, we help it because we know they’d help ours. Mind you, nothing more serious than getting the chain wrapped around the post and shortened has happened in recent memory.” 

He admired the community spirit, his village hadn’t been so civic minded, unless his father had ordered it. Maybe there was more to this town than he had first given it credit for. 

“Do you want to come with me?” she asked.  

He really felt that he was pushing his luck by doing so much while pretending to be so grievously injured so as much as it pained him to do so, he begged off. 

“I think perhaps it would be better to stay here. You were right, I shouldn’t over do it.” 

“Oh no, I’m so sorry,” she looked distressed. “I should never have let you come yesterday, I-” 

“I insisted on going, and you took very good care of me,” he insisted. “But now that Raven is safely tucked up in your stable I feel better able to relax, and I realise that I should have heeded your words.” 

“Are you in pain? I can get some willow bark from Ingram if you are.”  

“I’m fine,” he insisted, “just a little stiff and tired.”

In truth, he was angry. Not only was this community being terrorised by a family of werewolves, they were quite clearly a family of the bitten, rather than the born. 

Born werewolves, like Loki, were stronger, faster, and could choose how and when to change form. 

Bitten werewolves were those who survived an attack. They could only turn during the three nights of a full moon and although they could resist the urge to change, it was much harder for them than for a born wolf. What really made them dangerous however, was their lack of understanding. They hadn’t been taught about the wolf hunts, the village burnings, and the various other cruelties humanity had heaped upon werewolves, thus their new supernatural power often went to their heads and made them reckless. 

The bitten also killed more humans than the born. To a born wolf the only reason to kill was to eat, and people only ever became targets if a wolf was threatened by a human. The bitten, on the other hand, seemed to revel in killing not only people, but they were also known to kill animals for sport. They revelled not in the hunt, as the born did, but in the kill. 

Whilst attacking humans wasn’t outlawed in born communities, as it was sometimes necessary for survival, leaving a human alive was a grievous sin and any wolf responsible for creating a bitten wolf was shunned until they had killed their creation, as they should have done in the first place. 

With a 20 year history, it was impossible to know who created the Melville clan. Probably only one of them had been bitten and had then shared their gift with their family but regardless of who and how, Loki felt duty bound to end their tyranny, not only to save the village but also to protect his own kind from the consequences of their reckless actions. 

*** 

 

Red went out each day to milk the cow, then later to deliver pies and milk, but Loki decided he really should stay close to home for a while as he pretended to heal. Generally he stayed with Red until she left, then he would see to his horse and spend the rest of his time with her mother, helping with whatever task she was performing, or washing up. No matter how many bowls and pots and pans he washed, there always seemed to be more.  

They had only one guest at the inn that whole week, a tradesman who had come with herbs and medicines that he sold to Ingram, the healer, and the general store, which sold some remedies to save people the cost of a healer. They used to have an apothecary but he had left town nigh on ten years ago now, Red had told him.

The tradesman stayed only one night, afraid to travel back home that same day in case he should encounter the wolf after dark, even although it wasn’t a full moon.  

Loki knew he was a guest too and he would be paying for his stay but no matter how many times he told himself that, and he meant every word, he didn’t actually feel like a guest. With their easy acceptance and caring the two women made him feel more like family.

The Inn could house up to 24 people in 12 rooms, and Loki thought it was a shame to see it so little used. 

He began asking Juliette questions, trying to learn as much as he could about the situation before he acted. He also asked about the town before the wolves came, and she painted a picture of a bright, happy town with a thriving trade. He wished he’d seen it then.  

He discovered that Juliette was originally a trader’s daughter and it was accompanying her father on a trip to Badluf that she met Archie and then slowly, over the next half dozen visits, they fell in love.  

It took another six visits for them to feel confident enough in that love for him to propose, and Juliette had said yes without hesitation. Her father had been grumpy for a while but he had other children at home that he could train up to help him, so he had given his blessing and the wedding was organised.  

On her next visit Juliette was accompanied by two sisters, one brother, her mother, two aunts, and her father. They had given themselves three days before the wedding so her family could get to know his but it hadn’t taken long for them all to agree that she had chosen a good man and they gave her their blessing. 

The wedding had been a quick affair with no pomp and circumstance about it, but Juliette didn’t care. After that they moved into the inn, with Archie’s parents, Reav and Bennita, who Loki knew better as Gran. They retired to the little cottage that Reav and Bennita had been building for years. 

That was before the wolves arrived in town, Juliette reminded him; business was good so they could afford to pay some of their income to the retired couple and of course, the wall hadn't been erected and moving out of town was a nice way to retire. 

Having married late in life, Reav was quite a bit older than his son and he was growing feeble. Two years after they married, a shockingly cold winter brought a nasty flu that swept through the whole region. It skipped Bennita and luckily Juliette and Archie had recovered, but Reav was never the same. He died in his sleep less than a year later, missing the birth of his granddaughter by a matter of weeks. 

They asked Gran to return to the inn but she steadfastly refused. Even when the wolves came, she refused to leave her home, although she did make some changes to reinforce it. 

Loki also learned that Angra Melville’s family had been in the town for generations and she had met her husband, Ebbe Melville on a trip to the coast with her father. They were a trading family and had often travelled, searching for new and interesting wares to sell. They now owned perhaps twenty percent of the houses in the town, living from the rents they collected, Juliette explained, as well as the businesses they owned outright, which was how they managed to thrive when everyone else was struggling.  

The family had always been fairly well off, but the power was a recent thing, Loki learned, and they had earned that power on the back of their wolf problem, promising to protect the village from the threat. The town had already erected the wall and spikes above it, but somehow the wolf still got in and killed livestock. The final straw had been when a townsperson had been attacked and killed. Angra had been duly elected as Mayor a month later and true to her word, she had dug the trench for the fire wall and not a single attack had occurred within the town walls since.  

The fire wall was also one reason the townsfolk were so poor since, as well as passing traffic dying off to the extent that it was almost non-existent, the money to fuel the fire wall came from taxes, which were crippling the remaining population.  

Not that anyone blamed Angra, her family paid more than their due and her plan had kept the town safe for years. In fact the Melvilles often bought the houses or businesses of those who wanted to leave, although the prices were shockingly low, as everything in Badluf was pretty much worthless these days but for those leaving, it was better to have a little money than nothing.  

With each new fact he learned, Loki’s dislike of this family rose, as did his wariness of them , as it became clear they were systematically terrorising and victimising the town for fun and profit. They may be of the bitten, but he would be a fool to underestimate them. 

Faruk had been coming to the Inn almost every day, and as soon as he heard the man’s voice, Loki made sure he was within earshot but out of sight.  

The first encounter he overheard, Faruk had rung the reception bell and Red had rolled her eyes; they didn’t have any guests booked in and surprise visitors were very unusual, so she strongly suspected who it was. Loki left the kitchen a few seconds after she did and listened from the bottom of the stairs that led up to the reception desk.  

“You look well,” Faruk had said, and from his voice alone Loki knew the man was leering.  

“I am well, thank you.”  

“I came to see you yesterday, your mother told me you were out.” The possessiveness in his tone was slight, but definitely there. 

“I was at my grandmothers. I didn’t get to see her the day before so…” 

“And how is your  _ guest _ ?” the final word was sneered. 

“He’s very unwell, but healing.” Red very much did not like being questioned this way about Loki, as if Faruk were accusing her of cheating in some way. She decided that she didn’t particularly need to answer him honestly.

“Where is he?”  

“In his room. He was very badly injured.”  

“So what, he doesn’t come out at all?”  

“He asked for some books but other than that, I’ve hardly seen him, except to drop off and collect his meal trays.” 

“I heard he came back with his horse yesterday, you were seen entering the town with him.”  

The entitlement he felt, to demand details of Red’s life that he had no right to, left Loki’s blood boiling, but he held the rage in check. His brother was the one who went off half cocked, while Loki learned as much as he could, then planned.  

“Yes, he insisted on looking for his horse and miracle of miracles, we found her! I couldn’t believe it but he was in such a state I made him ride back while I walked. I insisted he redress his wounds and spend the rest of the day in bed. I think he slept most of it.” 

Loki smiled at Red’s tales. She was a kind girl but Loki had little doubt that she was also brave and resourceful, and yet she placated Faruk. It was the right move since the bitten were often easy to anger, so clearly she had judged his character correctly. Her lies also allowed her to keep her freedom. 

Maybe she had inherited her grandmother’s ‘psychic’ abilities.

“And today?” 

“Still in bed I think. I asked earlier if he felt up to a walk, but he refused.” 

“You didn’t see him at lunch time?” 

“No, Mother took his lunch tray.” Red sounded casually disinterested.

Faruk was quiet for a few moments, and an image of him formed in Loki’s mind. Far from being wolf-like, his mind conjured up something more resembling a boar, with a turned up nose and a moustache so waxed it looked like boar tusks.  

“I’d like to see him.” It wasn’t said as a request, more of an order. “What room is he in?” 

“You will not!” she said firmly, showing some of the courage he thought she possessed, yet her words were said softly, not in an angry tone at all. “He is a guest in our town, he had already been attacked and nearly killed because we haven’t maintained our signs correctly, and his recovery shouldn’t be jeopardised. The sooner he heals, the sooner he will be gone.” 

“How do you know he’ll be gone?” Faruk asked.  

“Because I asked what he was doing here; we don’t exactly get many visitors these days especially not strangers.” 

“What did he say?”  

“That he was just passing through.” 

“Fine, but you should stay away from him, I don’t trust him.” 

“He’s been perfectly polite to me and besides, even if there is a reason to distrust him, he is far too injured to pose any sort of threat to mother and I.” 

“I just worry about you.” Faruk sighed. 

“I’m fine, Faruk, honestly.”  

“I can’t help worrying about you.”  

He imagined those piggy little eyes assessing Red, and he began to realise why Thor might act rashly for time to time, because he was sorely tempted to follow his brother’s lead and beat this little shit to a bloody pulp.  

“So you’ve said,” Red answered, her tone stressed for the first time since this conversation began. “But I wish you’d believe me when I say ‘I’m fine’. If I ever need you, rest assured I shall ask for your help.” 

“Would you really?” 

“Of course! You and your family are the most powerful people in Badluf, why wouldn’t we come to you with any problems?” 

Another silence fell over them and Loki wondered what was happening. As far as his imagination was concerned, he was picturing the piggish cartoon villain stroking his chin while he considered the heroine’s words carefully.  

“How is your father?” she asked. 

“My father?” he snapped just a little too sharply. “What do you know of my father?”  

“Only what Jed Tapper told me when I delivered his pie.” Faruk’s hostility made Red sound confused. “He said your father had taken a spill down stairs and was resting.”  

_ ‘A spill,’ _ Loki thought, smirking as he remembered the damage he had done to the werewolf who had attacked him. Truth be told, a bitten wolf was no match for a born one, but this one hadn’t played fair. Coming from downwind, he had ambushed Loki, knocking him from his horse before Loki even registered what had happened. His foot caught in the stirrup, he was dragged some distance, hitting his head on a rock before he thought to change and free himself, then the other wolf was upon him once more. 

Ordinarily Loki would have won the fight, no contest, but his head injury slowed his thinking, not to mention that it hurt like a son of a bitch! Still, he had given as good as he got, he felt, and he was pleased to know that the wolf was laid up, possibly hurt worse than Loki had been. Of course, if they were bitten wolves they wouldn’t heal quite as quickly as Loki did either.

“Ah, yes.” Faruk had calmed almost instantly. “I’m sorry if I was harsh, it’s just that I overheard someone talking earlier, saying… saying that my father might be going senile. I wondered how far such rumours had spread.” 

“I’ve heard nothing like that.” 

As the silence stretched out, Loki wondered if Red had picked up on Faruk’s lie.  

“You do look very nice today,” Faruk spoke up, repeating his earlier sentiment, his tone softer and deeper, trying to be seductive.  

“You already said so.” 

“It bears repeating.”  

“If you say so. Now do please excuse me, I have to deliver the pies and I’m already running late.” 

“Of course.” Loki heard slow footsteps crossing towards the door. “Good day, and give my regards to your mother.” 

“I will.”  

Loki stepped back as Red came thundering down the wooden stairs, rubbing her knuckles against her skirts.  

“The day I ask for that idiot’s help is the day hell freezes over, damn egotistical creep,” she muttered. “Who does he think he- Oh!” 

She saw Loki and her anger vanished immediately, replaced instead with frustration and such weariness in her eyes that he wondered how long she had been keeping Faruk at bay.  

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”  

“Not a problem,” he assured her. “But I couldn’t help overhearing. Is my presence causing you trouble?” 

“Nothing more than usual; Faruk hates any man near me.” 

“I wouldn’t object to being introduced to him.”  

“That’s sweet,” Red smiled. “But I wouldn’t willingly subject an enemy to Faruk, let alone a friend who is wounded!” 

He returned her smile, feeling as though she had let him in on a private joke. This was how she coped he realised, by winning small victories and making fun of Faruk behind his back.   

“Where were you off to?” she asked.  

“Just opening the tavern for John and Tim, your mother said they should be here any minute.” 

“Okay, but don’t let them rope you into helping because wounded or no, they’ll have you carrying barrels up from the basement, the lazy sods!” she joked. 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he smiled and headed up the stairs, the keys Juliette had given him jangling with each step.  

Faruk returned the next day and spoke with Juliette who, since they had discussed it over dinner, said very similar things to Red. 

In fact he returned every day, becoming more aggrieved each day, wanting to know how Loki was recovering and demanding to see him. Red and her mother stood firm, but Loki was beginning to feel bad about having them defend him. 

Faruk was coming each day because he clearly thought Loki was a threat and would continue to until he saw that Loki was poorly with his own eyes. 

it might be possible that the father didn’t remember the attack but Loki couldn't count on that. He no doubt would be confused though, and Loki could weave that confusion to his advantage. The family probably suspected he was a wolf, like them, so he had to show them that he wasn’t or at least, that he was a newly bitten wolf and wouldn't turn into one until the next full moon. 

If he was right and they were bitten wolves, they likely had never met any born wolves and wouldn't know the advantaged that Loki had over them, like the ability to change at any time of the month, or the ability to change only specific body parts. He could use those gifts to throw them of the scent, or at least muddy the waters. 

He knew that Red would never give into Faruk’s demands on principal, but her mother was far more practical. On the 6th day after Red brought him to the inn, Loki spoke to Juliette about Faruk.

“Let him come,” Loki argued. “We’ll show him that I’m harmless, and then he can stop pestering you every day.”

“Red only wants to save you an interrogation,” Juliette explained. 

“I realise that,” he smiled. “And the irony is that I also wish to save her from Faruk’s daily interrogations.”

Juliette nodded, pleased that they were both protective of the other. This boded well, she thought, so she and Loki plotted for how to get Red out of the way for long enough that Faruk could meet Loki and sate his curiosity. 

While Red was out milking the cow, they organised between them that if Faruk came while Red was out, Loki was to creep up the servants stairs on the east side of the inn, which came out at the other end of the corridor Loki’s room was in.  

Juliette would put up a little fight to give Loki time to get to his room, but because Faruk expected it and overcoming their resistance would make him feel victorious.  

Faruk hadn’t shown by the time Red returned, so Juliette sent her out again to buy apples as they were running low, while Loki oversaw the boiling and bottling of the milk and Juliette made the pastry for the pies.  

By the time Red returned with a pound of apples, Faruk still hadn’t shown, so Juliette told her to deliver the milk early, that way they might take a rare afternoon off, and perhaps Red could show Loki around the town, she hinted.  

Although she looked suspicious, Red clearly liked the idea of spending time with Loki so she loaded her basket with bottles and headed off with hardly a question. Just in time too, as Loki’s sensitive hearing picked up Faruk’s footsteps not a minute after Red’s had faded.  

“I think I hear something,” Loki told Juliette and seconds later, the bell on reception rang.  

Loki stole up the lesser used staircase, unwinding a bandage as he went and crept to his room, taking care not to make any noise. His natural were wolf abilities helped in that respect. Once in his room he threw the bandage on the desk and removed the cloth he’d prepared earlier, from the bowl filled with yellow liquid, an antiseptic Ingram had left to keep his wounds infection free.  

No sooner had he touched his skin with the cloth, than he heard Juliette knocking on his door.

“Mr Odinson?” 

“Enter,” he called, and the door opened but Faruk barged ahead of Juliette.  

He stood in the centre of the room, as if he owned it, and sneered as he looked around. He wasn’t as ugly as Loki imagined, and there was certainly noting pig-like about him, save for perhaps his attitude. No, Faruk was reasonably handsome, and his expensive clothes and haircut added to his appeal. There was nothing tangible that detracted from his appearance, nothing that would put a woman like Red off… unless she saw his pleasant smiles and pretty words for the hollow façade they were.  

In looks he reminded Loki a little of his brother, Thor, although Thor never attempted to hide his true nature.  

“May I help you?” Loki asked,  sounding shocked. His hand stilled on his wound.

“This is the mayor’s son,” Juliette explained. “He’s been eager to see how you’re recovering, although I’ve been hesitant to disturb you while you’re resting.”  

“That’s very kind of you,” Loki smiled at Faruk. “I am healing well, thank you. I was just changing my dressings actually, if you’d like to see?”  

Faruk stepped closer, eager to see below the bandage. “What happened to you out there, how did you survive?” he asked, although it sounded more like a petulant demand.  

“I’m not entirely sure what happened,” he said, turning his attention back to his arm and dumping the cloth back in the liquid as he picked up a fresh bandage. 

“Here, let me,” Juliette offered, stepping forward and taking the bandage from him. 

“You’ve done too much already.”

“Nonsense, it’s just a dressing,” she gently chided. 

“Thank you,” he flashed her a grateful smile. “I’m not too bad with my right hand, but I’m useless with my left.”

She skillfully dressed the wound and held the material in place with a safety pin. She moved right onto his second, one higher up the arm, without even asking. 

As she unwrapped the binding Faruk could see that the lower layers were slightly stained with blood.  

This morning he had very carefully changed and then bitten himself over the scars that Faruk’s father had left on him, calculating that a few hours of werewolf healing would be equal to almost a week of human healing. They were a little more healed than he would like, but then Faruk was slightly later today than usual. Juliette began to clean the wound for him.

“So what did happen to you?” Faruk prompted. 

“I think it was just blind luck that saved me,” he explained, wincing from time to time as she dabbed at the wound. “There had been a gentleman in front of me on the road but I paused to pick a stone out of my horse’s hoof, which meant I could no longer see him when I remounted. About an hour later I heard a horrific cry, something growling, a horse screaming…” he gulped, as though the memory was a painful one to relive.  

“My horse became restless and before I could decide to go on and try to help, or turn tail and run, I was bucked off. I was stunned for a while, I think I lost consciousness because suddenly there was a massive dog biting me, dragging me, pulling at my clothes. I’m not sure what it wanted, I don’t even think I opened my eyes, or maybe I did and it was pitch black. Anyway, I fought, I kicked, I punched; it wasn’t very effective. I think I blacked out for a time or two because when I awoke, more clothes were missing. One time I awoke to the dog licking me, then I woke up here.”  

“So you’re saying a dog stole your clothes?”  Faruk sounded incredulous.

“I know how it sounds,” Loki shrugged. “All I can say for certain is that I was wearing clothes on the journey but they were gone by the time I woke up here and by all accounts, I was found with none. It must have torn them off.” 

“Why didn’t the wolf kill you?”  

“I wish I knew.” Loki shrugged again. “Luckily for me, I didn’t realise they were wolves at the time or I would have been even more petrified.”  

Faruk assessed Loki for a long few moments, but Loki simply turned his attention to Juliette and watched as she cleaned the wound and set about bandaging it.  

“How many wolves attacked you?” Faruk asked.  

“I can't be sure, but just the one, I think.” 

“I don’t suppose you saw where the wolf that attacked you went, did you?”  

Loki looked up and shook his head. “I wish I could help. Red told me all about your wolf problem but if they have a den near here, I didn’t see it.”  

Faruk seemed thoughtful and paced over to the window, looking down into the street.  

“What happened to the man in front of you?” Faruk asked.  

“I wish I knew. I never saw him, or what caused the commotion.” Loki sighed. “I fear he didn’t fare as well as I did. Has a body been found?”  

“No but in this wilderness, it might never be. Too many scavengers out in the woods.” 

Loki hissed as Juliette took the third bandage away since it had stuck to the wound and pulled the scab off with it, so he patted it with the bandage until the fresh bleeding slowed.  

“That still looks bad,” Juliette noted. “Shall I call Ingram out to take a look? She’s the healer.” 

Faruk looked over and Loki was careful to make sure he could see the wound just above the elbow. If he was right about the Mayor’s family, he had abilities they did not and seeing his wounds still healing should do away with any niggling doubts.  

“Please don’t trouble yourself,” Loki smiled at her. “It’s just the deep puncture wounds that are taking a while, but they are healing.” 

Faruk turned away from the window and stepped closer to him.  

“Please accept my apologies for what has happened to you. Although I cannot claim control of the wolves, the road here should have contained warning signs and we are very sorry that you were injured.” 

“I appreciate the sentiment,” Loki gave him a warm smile as Juliette cleaned his wound. “And I owe your town a debt of gratitude for saving my life.” 

“It’s the least we could do,” Faruk assured him, although he had personally done nothing at all. “Will you be staying long?”  

“I had planned on just a night or two but although I have my horse back, my purse was missing, so once I’m recovered, I must find employment to tide me over for the next stage of my journey.” Faruk nodded slowly as he considered something.  

“Jobs are scarce in this town, as I’m sure you realise by now, but if you are unable to find work please do come to me, I’m sure I can find you something in one of our businesses, or even on the town’s logging crew, although you may need to be a bit more recovered for that sort of work.”  

“Thank you for your kindness,” Loki nodded. “You certainly live up to your family’s reputation.” 

Faruk actually smiled, while Juliette began to wind a fresh bandage around his cleaned bicep, an open safety pin clasped in her lips ready to be used. 

“Well, it was good to finally meet you, Loki was it?” 

“Loki Odinson,” he made sure to stress the surname. Everyone of his kind knew who Odin was, even those from halfway across the world.  

Faruk registered nothing though, so Loki held his hand out and Faruk gave it a perfunctory shake.  

“Good day to you,” Faruk nodded to them then strode out of the door.  

Juliette pinned the end of the bandage down and stepped back, appraising Loki.  

“What was all that about?” she asked, knowing his story was vastly different from the simple tale Loki had told her and Red.  

“Just making sure that I don’t raise any hackles in this town and if my suspicions about his family are true, I don’t want him thinking me anything but a simple traveller.” 

“Aren’t you just a simple traveller?”  

“Are you just a simple Inn Keeper, or are you also a widow, a mother, a friend and, some instinct tells me, a lioness when her cub is threatened? And I’m sure you have even more depths that I have yet to fathom.”  

“You read people very well.” Juliette smiled.  

“Luckily for me, you and your daughter are open books.” She appeared to be about to object so he hurried on. “I only meant in that you have no artifice, you don’t put on airs. I cannot say the same for the Melvilles.” 

“No indeed,” she lamented. “Yet this town idolises them as our saviours from the wolves.” 

“Something tells me that they’re about to fall from grace,” he confided.  

Juliette’s sly smile said that she would enjoy that.  

“Shall I do your other dressings for you?” she asked.  

“It’s a kind offer, but I can do them myself without issue.”  

She left him alone to do so, taking the old bandaged with her for washing, but he didn’t bother to remove the bandage on his other arm since it would be fully healed by tomorrow morning.  

His arms were the only wounds he had redone and he had ceased even wearing bandages on his chest and legs days ago.  

He put away the bottle he used to clean the wounds and walked over to his window, clasping his hands behind his back as he looked down on the street.  

Everyone looked so downtrodden, their pace slow as they trudged along, shoulders hunched from the invisible weight that bore down on everyone here.  

“No more,” Loki softly swore.  

Things were going to change, but before rushing in Loki would use this time to reconnoiter so that when the time came, Loki was ready to end this suffering with a few precision strikes.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this has answered a few questions but there are still a few surprises to come.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

After his week of self- imposed confinement, Loki was ready to get out and repay the kindness he had been shown, and Red was more than happy to have an afternoon off to show him her town. 

Loki was eager to learn as much as he could and walked silently beside her while she chatted away. 

“Kel Owens is the candle maker,” she pointed to a drab shop with a peeling painted sign. “Next to him is the carpenter. Well, I say carpenter, but while a carpenter did used to own the shop, he left town and took his beautiful talent with him, leaving us with Iaan, who mostly just sells wood so people can make or repair their own things. Iaan is a sweet guy though, you’d like him.”

Loki wasn’t at all sure he would. 

“Jan is our tanner and leather smith, she makes saddles, shoes, some garments, things like that, and she tans the hides of the animals the butcher sells.” She pointed to shop with wide double doors a little way down. 

“Next to him is Essie, our haberdasher and dressmaker, and that on the opposite corner is the general store. If a shop owner left and no one took it over, the general store tries to bridge the gap. You’ll find home remedies that the apothecary used to sell, fresh-ish produce now our grocer is gone, that sort of thing.”

“I should think there is many things you need that a general story cannot provide.”

“You’re right,” she agreed, turning him around the corner. “This is the town square. There’s a travelling market the first Wednesday of the month, as long as it doesn’t fall on a full moon, and because we’ve lost so many shops it’s busier than it’s ever been.”

The square had a once grand town hall on one side and the other three sides were houses, some with small shop fronts instead of front rooms. About half the dwellings were either boarded up, or the windows were so dusty, some even cracked, and they were clearly uninhabited. The town hall almost looked unused. The exterior stone was nearly black with grime and over half the windows, while not as dusty as some dwellings, were clearly looking into unused rooms. 

“That must boost your business at the inn,” he noted. 

“You would think,” she shot him a wry look. “Unfortunately, because the market is essential for the town, we’re only allowed to charge them 22% of what we usually would, just enough to cover our costs.”

“That seems… counterproductive.” 

“Thank you!” she turned to him, clearly pleased to have someone spot the same flaw in logic that she had. “Because shopkeepers are in such short supply, we’re giving this market more money than ever before, they’re taking that money away from our economy, and we can’t even charge them a fair room rate?”

“Do other businesses have to reduce their rates for market.” 

“No, they’re deemed to be optional, only accommodation is a necessity and the mayor, in her infinite wisdom, decided what we can charge. A couple of traders leave us a generous tip but most are happy to take advantage.”

“And the town doesn’t reimburse you?” 

“Nope,” she popped the P, clearly unhappy about this decision. 

Loki filed that information away to ponder later. 

“So what else does this market have?” he asked as they strolled through the centre of the square. 

“All sorts. Dried herbs and spices, cheese, cereals, sugar, fleeces, wool, furs, some metals, cooking vessels, candlesticks, shoes, spurs, cloth, canvas… They also buy from some local people, like the saddler and tanner, Amber sells them some garments each month, and we even sell the pie makers some of our fruit pies.”

“So the town has still found a way to trade,” he sounded impressed. 

“Don’t get too excited. They’re only so keen to buy from us because we’re desperate, so our things are cheaper that others would charge. The stall holders also sell to local businesses, so the mill buys a lot of grain, for example.”

“And what happens when the market falls on the full moon?” 

“It just doesn’t come that month. You can always tell when it’s a skip month because the town is especially poor since the tradesmen haven’t been able to sell their wares on.”

“When is the next market?” he asked. 

“Next week. And before that, this weekend is our fortnightly knees up.”

“Pardon?” he looked confused. 

“Our bi-weekly party,” she explained, finding it cute that she was teaching him the local slang. “Obviously it’s nothing grand, but it’s fun.”

“What happens?” he asked. 

“Well we erect a small stage over there,” she pointed, “and we have a few musicians and they donate their time to play for us. Over there,” she gestured to the opposite side of the square, “we set up a row of tables and everyone brings a dish or a drink. You bring your own plates, cutlery and cups, then just have fun.”

Loki looked at the rather downtrodden people around him, wondering if they even remembered how to have fun. 

“I look forward to it,” he lied. 

“How are you feeling?” she asked. “Not too tired?”

“I’m fine,” he assured her. “So where does Faruk live?” he asked as casually as he could. 

“Oh, um, not far from here.” She pointed to the east but they were heading north, so he made a mental note to try and guide her back that way later. 

She pointed out a few more shops and places of interest as they walked and at some point, he realised that she had taken his arm. 

They paused by a green which had clearly seen better days, the pond was filled with weeds and algae and the  grass was worn away to a few scraggly patches. That hadn’t stopped the children from playing there though, one group chasing each other around, another group waiting their turn to swing from a rope tied around a tree branch. 

“I like it here,” she said, moving closer until her arm pressed into his. “My dad used to bring me here sometimes. The rope was a swing then, with a wooden seat, and the pond was clear, and wonderfully cool on a warm summer’s day. We’d splash around and he’d threaten to pick me up and throw me in properly, so I’d take off running and he’d chase me.”

“Did he ever do it?” Loki asked, enjoying her reminiscences. 

“No,” she shook her head. “Mostly he pretended to be puffed out and laid down. Sometimes he’d catch me and tickle me, but he never threw me in.”

They slowly walked around the perimeter and Loki noticed that the people here were happier, smiling at them as they passed, some said hello, a few wished him a speedy recovery, obviously guessing who he was. 

Maybe the town wasn’t hopeless, Loki mused. If the sound of children laughing could still cheer them, then maybe their dour façades were just superficial and like the buildings, they just needed a metaphorical lick of paint. 

The sun was growing low as they rounded the green, the nights starting to pull in. Loki wondered how much more bleak life here must feel in the winter. 

Well not this winter, he vowed, if nothing else, their wolf problems would be over. 

“Loki?” Red sounded hesitant. 

“Hmm?” 

“Can I ask you something?” 

“Of course.”

“I just… I was wondering- and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to- but, well, why does the younger son have to leave home among your people? 

“It’s tradition.” 

“But why? Where does such a tradition come from?”

Loki didn’t want to answer, he didn’t even much like to think about how easy his family had found it to say goodbye. Not his mother, oh no, she had been a wreck, but his brother and father just stood there stoically, as did the people he had considered his friends. 

Given how painful those memories were, he was almost surprised to find himself speaking.

“There’s a legend which says that hundreds of years ago, our clan was led by Ginnungagap and his sons, Ymir and Audumla. Ymir was the oldest and he was supposed to rule when his father stood down, but Audumla was jealous and a week after Ymir became clan leader, his brother killed him and took power. 

“He was then forced to kill his father when he tried to kill Audumla for what he did, and his mother never forgave him for either death.

“Audumla was a good leader though, better than his brother could have been, and he was eventually accepted by the clan and grew to be loved. He had a family of his own, two sons again, but as they grew he knew didn’t want his family torn apart because one son was jealous of the other. 

“Rather than the oldest inheriting automatically, he instead made them fight and the winner would take power, then to prevent a repeat of what he did to his brother, the loser had to leave. Ever since, the losing son has been turned out.”

“You can never go back?” Red asked, appalled that his family could turn their back on him.

“Never,” he confirmed. “I’ve been writing to my mother, and she is keen to visit me once I settle, but I can never return.”

“That’s barbaric!” 

Loki found a sad smile for her. “Don’t feel too sorry for me, I have always known the day was coming.” 

“You knew you’d lose?”

“I was never the favoured son,” he explained. “I knew Father would find a way to skew the results of the battle in Thor’s favour, and he did.” 

“How?” 

“He taught us how to fight and he made sure Thor was better. He got the greater praise, extra lessons when he was falling behind, things I was denied when I needed them. He always told us we were both born to rule, he just showed us something very different with his actions. Only a fool could have missed it.”

“What about your mother?” 

“She saw, she knew, and she did what she could to help me. Her skill was with throwing knives and she taught me as much as she could… so my father banned all weapons a day before the match, knowing that in terms of brawn alone, I couldn’t beat Thor, although I certainly gave him a run for his money.”

“That’s horrible,” she said with sincerity. “I’m so sorry.” 

He found a smile or her, albeit a weak one, and patted the hand that still clutched his elbow. 

“The past is the past. I must look forward now and find a new home.”

Red opened her mouth to say something but evidently thought better of it. When she tried again a moment later she said “I hope you find somewhere you love.” 

“I do too,” his smile was stronger now. 

They continued walking arm in arm, as if it was perfectly natural. Sometimes they talked or Red pointed things out, but they were equally happy to walk in silence. 

The people seemed friendlier now, on the return journey, so Loki had to wonder if perhaps his own prejudice of the townsfolk had possibly made him glower, which meant he would receive similar expressions in return. Now having relaxed after being around the children, perhaps it was he who looked happier, and those around him were reciprocating. 

They were heading back now but taking a different route and Loki had almost forgotten about Faruk’s house, until Red suddenly let go of his elbow and stepped away. 

He looked over, confused for a second, until a familiar scent hit his nostrils. Faruk. 

He tried not to react but instead he pointed at a shop’s faded beyond recognition sign and asked what it was. 

“Pardon?” 

She dragged her gaze away from Faruk, which gave him a chance to look over and see him scowling as he approached. 

“The shop?” she queried, finally processing his question and looking over to see for herself. “That’s the bakery. It’s been there longer than our inn has, so I suppose the locals don’t need a sign for-“

“Yes,” a sneering voice cut in. “The  _ locals _ know what’s what.” 

They both turned to Faruk and Loki found a pleasant smile for him. 

“How good to see you again.” Somehow he managed to sound sincere. “Red has been showing me around and telling me how many good things your family has done for this town. You must be very proud.” 

Faruk’s attitude softened a little as his head swelled with pride. “Well, yes, we do our best.”

“And it’s much appreciated by everyone,” Red assured him. “This is Loki’s first time out. I thought I should show him around a little.” 

“Of course you should, I would expect nothing else from such an exceptional hostess.” He turned to Loki. “And you sir, how goes the job hunt?” 

“Today is  _ my first _ day outside,” he reminded him. “I don’t think I’m yet ready to work the logging crew, but I thought I might start asking around tomorrow.”

Faruk assessed him for a moment, then evidently dismissed him and turned back to Red. 

“You look stunning, my dear,” he said as he reached out for her hand. “But when do you not?”

“Thank you.” She looked down but didn’t blush as she did with Loki. 

“Anyway, we don’t all have time to wander aimlessly,” Faruk jibed as he leaned over, bowing ridiculously low as he pressed a wet kiss to her knuckle. “I’ll see you very soon, pet.” 

Red’s answering smile was tight but if Faruk’s smug expression was anything to go by, he didn’t seem to notice. Finally he released her hand and continued on his way, walking right between them and hitting their shoulders, rather than going around. They both turned to watch him go, as if afraid that he might change his mind. 

When Loki looked back to Red, she was frantically rubbing her knuckle on her skirts again, wiping him off. 

Faruk had turned the corner now so Loki offered Red his elbow once more and she accepted. Neither of them mentioned his interruption as they continued on, but the jovial mood from earlier was gone. 

“There,” Red pointed after a minute or two. 

“Sorry?” 

“Faruk’s house,” she pointed again. 

It was a forbidding looking house, built of stone like those around it, but more ornate than it’s neighbours. Around the roof and windows were ornately carved figures that appeared to be gargoyles. The neighbouring house on one side was far less grand, being an end of terrace and on the other side was a barren patch of land. 

“It’s an odd structure,” he noted. “Almost gothic.” 

“It’s one of the newest buildings in the village,” she explained. “It used to be the church and vicarage but the townspeople rebelled against the church when the vicar told them that the wolves were a punishment from God. They threw him out of the town and knocked the small church down. The Melville’s then built their house there, rather than letting it sit idle. They reused most of the materials too; very... thrifty.”

It made sense to get rid of the church, Loki reasoned, after all, next to government they were the only authority that most people answered to. Now the Melvilles didn’t have to share that power but Loki couldn’t help wondering if it was more luck than planning. 

“-and some of the livestock stays there.”

“Pardon?” he said, having missed the beginning of her sentence. 

“I said that for those people who have animals but no garden, during the full moon some of the animals can stay where the church was, on the parcel of land beside the house. The rest have to be kept on the green, that’s one reason there’s so little grass left.”

Loki nodded but he was only listening with half an ear. 

“Come on,” she tugged on his arm. “We should get home or Mum will send out search parties for us soon.” 

The sun was nearly set now and he had been staring rather fixedly at the Melville’s home. Better to leave now before anyone else noticed his interest. 

***

The next morning Red was due to visit her Gran again and she offered Loki the chance to go with her, but he begged off claiming he should see about getting a job. 

The truth was that the old lady’s insight troubled Loki and he had no wish to get any closer lest she expose his secret. 

A part of him felt that he was being foolish but the other part of himself reminded him that it hadn’t just been werewolves that the humans hunted, there were other magical beings, such as witches and psychics, and he knew they hadn’t died out because his own dear mother was not a wolf but a witch. 

There was a very good chance that Red’s gran was either a witch or psychic, possibly both, and he would be a fool to risk too much contact with her. 

Besides, he had some errands he had to do today so taking a shiny gold coin from its hiding place in one of the books he had borrowed, he headed out into the town. 

He headed first to the haberdashery to enquire about getting red a new cloak for Red. He had overheard the women speaking and knew that she had ruined it bringing him back, he had also crept into the wash room and seen the damage for himself and yes, it was ruined; not only stained to hell but also full of plucks where the threads had caught against the forest floor. 

The dressmaker, Essie, was happy to help him and assured him that she had the measurements still on file for the last cloak she made and she found the sketches she had done. Loki made a couple of additions, first he wanted it lined with silk, to keep her warm in the winter, and a fur lining around the collar and hood, for the same reason. 

She worried for a moment if she had enough red cloth but once measured, she had just over what she would need. 

Loki insisted on paying her upfront since she would have to purchase the fur lining and her eyes went wide as she saw his coin. Loki guessed she hadn’t seen one for a while. 

“My emergency fund,” he explained. 

“I can’t change that,” she replied. I’m sorry, I just don’t have enough on hand.”

They both stood dumbly for a moment. 

“The silversmith could,” she offered. “Her brother travels with the market and sells some of her wares, so she’s not doing as badly as some.”

She directed him and he left, vowing to return shortly. 

The silversmith worked from a small barn like structure and two sets of double doors, at the front and rear were open but, standing over the forge that melted the metals, she was perspiring freely as she worked anyway. 

On display along one wall were various wares she had made, from candlesticks to flasks, tankards to bangles, mostly in silver or brass and he occupied himself by wandering over and browsing the goods until she noticed him. 

He knew he could simply ask her to change the coin but in a town so poor, he felt bad doing so and when he spotted a brass bracelet with an inset moonstone, he realised he had found something to purchase. 

She turned away from the furnace and he kept still and silent as she was carrying a ladle full of molten metal from the crucible. He watched as she tipped the contents of the ladle into a flat mould, essentially creating a sheet of silver, then repeated the process with a second mold. 

Once she set the ladle down, he stepped forward, into her line of sight. 

“Forgive me,” he said as she jumped slightly. “I didn’t want to disturb you before.”

“No, that was probably a good idea,” she smiled as she removed her heavy protective apron. She was short, barely over 5 foot and had sandy blonde hair and an open, friendly face. “I hope you weren’t waiting long?”

“Only long enough to decide,” he said plucking the bracelet off the shelf behind him. 

“You must be Loki,” she noted.

“I see my reputation proceeds me.” 

“Not at all,” she laughed. “We just have so few strangers.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“I’m Melody.” She offered her hand and he shook it. “So how are you settling in?” she asked as she took it from him and wrapped it in a piece of cloth.

“I’m healing well,” he replied.

“Glad to hear it. Is this gift for anyone special?” 

“Just a thank you. I hope you can change a sovereign,” he moved the conversation on. 

“I thought you were robbed,” she said rather bluntly. 

“I was, but the coin was my emergency fund and hidden in my horse’s blankets.”

“Wise man,” she nodded. “And yes, I can change a sovereign.” 

“If you don’t mind me asking, what are the metal sheets for?” Loki gestured to the molds she had filled earlier. 

“Candlesticks.” She took his coin and counted out his change while she explained her methods. “I’ll cut out the various patterns, then hammer them into shape and solder them together.” 

“Fascinating. I’d love to stay and watch but I promised someone I wouldn’t be gone long. Would you mind if I came back and observed you at some point?” 

“Not at all.” 

“Thank you.” He began to back away. 

“Oh and when you see her, tell Red I’ll see her on Saturday and that yes, I’m bringing Eccles Cakes.”

“I will,” he assured her as he left. 

Back at the dressmakers she named her price and he queried it but she assured him that her prices were correct and refused to take more. If the garment was well made, he decided, he would leave her a generous tip. 

“I would appreciate your discretion about this,” he asked. “Not only would I like to surprise her with the cloak, I have the feeling that Faruk would read more into this than me making right any losses she suffered from helping me.”

“I understand.” she grimaced. “That one would never consider replacing something that he’d ruined.” Her expression one of understanding and once assured of  her confidence, he left and returned to the inn. 

He knew from general conversations how much the rooms normally went for and he handed Juliette enough for one month’s stay plus stable room. She tried to reject it but he assured her that he always paid his way and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He then insisted that she tell him what it was costing to feed both him and his horse, then he paid her for that too. 

He was surprised to realise that he still had change from the sovereign. Granted, the last place he’d spent any amount of time was a city which naturally cost a premium, but one should not be able to live for a month, buy a cloak and an item of jewellery on a single gold coin. In a city it would cost at least twice that, possibly more. 

“Are you all right?” Juliette asked, pulling him out of his reverie. 

“I’m fine,” he smiled. “Is there anything  I can do to help you?” 

“You’re a paying guest now,” she reminded him. 

“Only because that’s fair,” he explained. “But please, being idle is not in my nature. Give me something to do or I might have to get up to some mischief!” he teased. 

Juliette laughed.

“Well, in that case you can help me clean up the tavern, then I’ll make a start on the pies, by which time Red should be back with the blackberries and hopefully, Gran might have a few rabbits for us.”

“I’m more than happy to help with the tavern, but I might be of more use if I milked your cow after that.” The walk seemed to take Red about twenty minutes each way, on top of milking. He’d save her a lot of time and besides- “I’d like to get outside of these walls for a while, I’m starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.” 

“I know that feeling,” Juliette smiled. “You can go now if you’d like.” 

“No no, I’ll help you with the tavern first.” 

***

Red sat at her Gran’s kitchen table, warming her hands on a mug of Gran’s tea. 

“So you didn’t bring your young man this week then?” Gran asked as she pottered about the small kitchen fixing a selection of biscuits. 

“No, he’s looking for a job,” she said. 

“Sounds like you don’t want him to find one.” 

Red blushed but didn’t answer. Gran put away the biscuit jar and came to the table with a heaping plate. 

“Oh gran you don’t need to go to all this trouble, you know.” 

“I always bake cookies for two, always have done, always will. Something about the amounts gets messed up if I try to reduce it and they turn out all wrong. You can take some home for your Mam if you’d like, and your Loki.”

“He’s not ‘my’ Loki.”  

Gran stopped teasing and spoke seriously. “Perhaps not yet, but you’d like him to be, wouldn’t you?”

Red met her eye and after a hesitation, she nodded. 

“Then what’s the problem? It’s clear that he likes you too.” 

“You know how Faruk gets.”

“Pah,” she waved the thought away. “You’ll not have to be worrying about him for much longer.”

“Even if that were true, Loki says he doesn’t plan on staying, and I can’t leave Mum on her own, one person can’t do it all and she can’t afford to hire someone else.”

“Well to be fair to Loki, you haven’t exactly given him a reason to stay have you?” 

Red didn’t answer. 

“Look at me,” Gran ordered, and Red did. “Now, forget about Faruk and forget about Loki moving on, those problems just magically disappeared. What’s the real reason you’re hesitant?” 

“I don’t know,” Red admitted. 

“All right, well answer my questions then. Do you trust him?” 

“Yes.”

“Do you think he’s a good man?” 

“I do.” 

“And would you make very pretty babies together?” 

Red laughed and nodded. 

“All right,” Gran continued on. “Now I want you to close your eyes and relax.” 

Red did as she was told. This wasn’t the first time Gran had tried something like this and she would pester and pester until Red gave in. And usually Red found the outcome of such peculiar thinking exercises helpful. Gran usually used it to help her find lost items though, but she had used it once to decide if she should leave Badluf when she came of age. 

Ever since her father died Red had felt duty bound to stay but after doing this with her grandmother, she had realised that she wanted to stay. She didn’t know why but she knew that her future was in this village. 

Something aromatic and soothing filled her nostrils as Gran began to talk and Red realised she was heating one of her spice bowls, a collection of herbs and oils she said were good for various things. This one was warm, like chocolate and vanilla, but also spicy, like hot mustard, as well as many lesser scents intermingled with them that weren't strong enough for her to identify. She didn't think Gran had used this one with her before but she liked it. 

“Now, breathe in and hold it, one, two, three, and out slowly. In and hold… and out.”

Red could literally feel the tension leave her body as she kept following the breathing exercise, and Gran’s soothing voice helped too. 

“Now don’t think, answer the first thing that comes into your mind, understand?” 

“Yes, Gran.” 

“Good. Now if you trust Loki and you think he’s a good man, what is that doubt that niggles at the back of your mind?” 

“Secrets.” Her eyes shot open and she seemed surprised by her answer. 

“Secrets?” Gran promoted. 

“He seems like an open book, he even told me about his family, and I know that was hard but there’s something… Something he’s keeping from me.” 

“But if he’s a good man, does it matter?” 

“I don’t know,” Red answered. “Unless I know what it is, how can I know if it matters? And I don’t even know why I think he’s hiding something.” 

“People hide a lot, my child,” Gran said, pushing the plate of biscuits over. “There are things about me that you don’t know, and will never know.” 

“Like what?” Red frowned. 

“Like what me and your grandpa did in there.” With a wicked grin, she pointed to the bedroom. “But that’s just one example. I never told your Pa how painful giving birth to him was, or that he was the reason I couldn’t have any more bairns, because that would make him feel guilty when it wasn’t his fault.”

Red was frowning as she considered that. 

“Not all secrets are bad,” Gran went on. 

Red narrowed her eyes and considered her grandmother; it was at times like these that she could almost believe that the old lady was psychic. 

“Do you know what his secret is?” she found herself asking. 

“Never you mind,” Gran tapped the side of her nose with her index finger. 

“You do!” Red gasped, knowing her well enough to realise that she would have said no if she could. “Why won’t you tell me?” 

“Simple. Because it’s not my secret to tell.” Gran topped Red’s cup up with tea from the pot. “But I will say this to you, keep an open mind and don’t judge a book by its cover.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that a book is just a book, love, it’s the content of that  book that matters. Judge by who people are, not what they are.”

Red felt a headache coming on; she often did after Gran got her to do one of her exercises. 

“You know, you’d feel a lot better if you practiced your gift,” Gran told her for the hundredth time as she got up and stood behind Red. 

“I’m not psychic, Gran.” 

“Then what can it hurt to let me train you? You’ll have lost nothing.” She placed one hand on Red’s forehead and the other at the base of her skull at the back. 

“Except time.”

Gran began to press her hands together and Red felt warmth. She didn’t know why this worked on her headaches, but it always did. 

“There,” Gran proclaimed and as she removed her hands, Red was pain free. 

“You’ll have to tell me how you do that one day.” 

“Magic,” Gran shrugged as she sat back down and nudged the cookies closer again until finally Red picked one up and nibbled at the edges. “And you know I’d be happy to teach you how it works, love, but you wouldn’t believe me. You’re not ready yet but one day very soon, you will be.” 

Red didn’t want to fight with her Gran so she found a smile for her. 

“If you say so, Gran.” 


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

The day of the town dance saw Loki helping Juliette to clean the tavern while Red made two pies for this evening, in addition to their usual orders, then once the oven was free Loki took over and showed Red how to make one of his mother’s recipes, cinnamon rolls with icing drizzled over the top. 

“Oh my god, these smell amazing!” Red said as she took them out of the oven and placed them on a cooling rack. “I hope you made extras.” 

“I don’t think anyone will miss one or two.” 

“I was thinking more like five,” Red teased. “Should I separate them?” 

“Please.” 

The individual rolls had expanded in the oven and joined together so she began gently pulling them apart into individual cakes. Loki then drizzled the runny icing over them with a spoon. 

“There,” he announced when done, handing her a roll and taking one for himself. “They’re still a bit hot, but burning your tongue is half the fun,” he joked. 

Red tore a little of the pastry off and after blowing on it a few times, popped it into her mouth and moaned in pleasure. 

“I take it you like them?” Loki sounded proud. 

“Like? I would marry them if I could.” She popped another bite into her mouth. “Where did you learn to make these?” 

“My mother taught me,” he told her, a warm smile playing at the edges of his lips. 

“You must miss her,” she sympathised. 

“I do.” He chewed his own piece thoughtfully. “Once I’ve settled somewhere I’ll invite her to visit.” 

Red didn’t know what to say to that. She didn’t like the reminder that he would be leaving again. 

Since she’d visited her gran, she’d done her best to put any troubling thoughts out of her mind and trust her instincts. So Loki had his secrets, but everyone did. Red wouldn’t say she had secrets, but there were more things about her that Loki didn’t know, than things he did. That didn’t mean she was hiding anything from him, and she had to hope that Loki’s secrets were the same, innocuous things that just hadn’t come up yet. 

“Well I’m sorry,” she teased, trying to lighten the somewhat sombre mood that had overcome them, “but I’m afraid I can no longer let you leave our little town until you’ve given me the recipe.”

“Is that right?” Loki laughed. 

“It is,” she nodded emphatically. 

“And how exactly do you plan on tempting me to stay?” 

“Who said anything about temptation?” she jested. “I intend to overpower you and sit on you until you give it up.” 

His eyebrows rose in surprise while his face expressed delight at her slip; he would not mind at all if she sat on him, she could do so at any time, no overpowering needed. 

He could tell by the red of her cheeks that she had realised her unintentional double entendre and he decided not to tease her about it. Well, not about sex. 

“What exactly makes you think that you, all of 100 pounds soaking wet, could take me?” 

“Easy! You’re injured, and I don’t play fair.”

Loki laughed. “Very well, I know when I’m beaten.”

“Good.” Red popped the last bite of bun into her mouth and looked longingly to the other 10. Alas, she would have to wait until the gathering before she could have more… but maybe she didn’t need anything savoury and could just eat cinnamon rolls all night!

Loki took the used bowls to the sink and Red wiped her hands on a cloth. 

“I’ll get the pin of cider for tonight,” Red said, getting to her feet. 

“Let me get it for you,” he offered, knowing that was about 40 flagons of drink. 

“You’re still hurt.” 

“That was nearly two weeks ago and I’m fine now. Honestly, just tell me where it is.” 

“You just don’t want to do the washing up,” she teased.

“You wash, I’ll dry, just tell me where the cider is.” 

“All right, fine, as long as you promise not to try and cart it all the way to the village square this evening.”

“I solemnly swear.” Loki held up his right hand but the tell tail smirk on his lips let her know that he had something planned. 

***

Red had chosen her best dress for this evening, the one she never wore because she was ‘saving it’. She’d had no idea until today what she was saving it for but this seemed perfect. 

She took a deep breath as she looked in the mirror and placed a hand flat against her stomach, as though she could physically calm the butterflies there. 

The dress had a red bodice that really, was a touch too small for her now, so even though she hadn’t tied the bodice as tight as she could, her breasts looked larger than they really were. The black skirt swished nicely around her legs, revealing her ankles as she turned from side to side. 

She usually wore her hair down at the back, or in a long braid but tonight she had pinned it all up, save for one long, thick curl which she had draped over her right shoulder. 

She thought she looked good, she only hoped Loki felt the same. 

“Red, love, time to go,” her mother called her. 

With one final glance at her reflection, she left the room and met her mother in the kitchen. 

“Where’s Loki?” she asked. 

“He’s taking the pin of cider outside,” Juliette replied, handing her a basket with the cinnamon rolls in.

“Mum!” she gasped, thrusting the basket back at her and running outside. 

Juliette followed behind her daughter, smiling at her overprotectiveness. She arrived at the front of the inn to see Red arguing with Loki as she jogged down the half dozen stairs. 

Loki too seemed to have made an effort; his hair was recently washed and dried and it hung in loose curls, and he had opted for a green shirt, laced slightly looser than usual, and black breeches.

“Loki, you can't possibly-” Red protested, worried about his newly recovering strength as Loki picked up the pin. The barrel  wasn’t huge in tavern terms, but 40 pints wasn’t exactly light either. It was the opposite of light, actually. 

Loki stopped and looked at her, pinning her with his stern gaze,

“Red.  Of course I can. I have no intention of carrying the damned heavy thing all the way to your ‘knees up’! There's a hand cart that John left at the back of the tavern. If you'll bring it 'round, we'll load the food and the cider in that. As a matter of fact, I have every intention of loading your mother on, and carting her along as well!  She deserves a few minutes off her feet, don't you think?”  Loki neatly diverted Red's fussing from him.

Juliette grinned and winked at Loki, understanding at once what Loki was trying to do she turning and moaned to Red.

“Oh, don't mind if I do, that would be so wonderful!” she said longingly.

Red narrowed her eyes at her mother, switching her look to Loki, then back, knowing that she was being played but giving in as gracefully as she could.

With a huff of irritation she went to find the cart and brought it around to the front where Loki loaded the victuals and neatly handed Juliette onto the back of it, where she sat on the small cider barrel and Loki handed her the food baskets.

He stood at one handle of the handcart and looked at Red, his brow raised, waiting patiently for her to grasp the other handle. She huffed and, thwarted in her determination to coddle Loki, acquiesced and reached for the other handle.

Loki turned and looked at Red, mischief tugging the corner of his mouth up. 

“Race you!” he challenged, suddenly pushing the cart so Red had to rush to catch up or risk dropping her handle. 

“You can't race me, we’re both pushing the same cart!” Red laughed. 

“Can't we?” Loki taunted, pushing faster and giving Red no choice but to match his pace. 

Juliette, who was bouncing around as the cart sped over the cobbled streets, held her hands in the air, the baskets swinging as she whooped with laughter, drawing stares and smiles from those they passed. 

Loki and Red shared a look and by unspoken agreement, they both went faster. 

By the time they reached the square Red was panting like a dog and her sides ached from trying to run and laugh at the same time, but it was worth it. She couldn't remember the last time her mother looked so positively gleeful. 

She eyed Loki who, despite having been savaged by wolves, looked surprisingly unaffected, hardly out of breath at all. 

Oh well, she sighed, turning away before his amazing constitution could annoy her any further. At least the chill in the air was cooling her quickly.  

The square was really too big for the current population, but Juliette just said that made it easier to dance. In each corner of the square sat a metal fire pit, which provided light for the gathering and warmth for those not dancing. On one side was a three foot high wooden platform where proclamations were made but tonight it would double as a stage, and on opposite side of the square three large tables had been set up, two for food and one for drinks. 

Loki helped Juliette out of the cart and when she excused herself to see a friend, Red and Loki pulled the cart over to the tables to unload their wares. 

“Melody!” Red called, waving to the silversmith who smiled and headed over. 

They hugged and when they separated, Red peeled back a corner of the teatowel covering the basket. 

“You have to try these,” she said, snaking her hand in and coming out with a cinnamon roll. “They are extremely moreish and will will be gone in seconds if I put them out.” She pulled a second out out for herself then grabbed Loki’s upper arm, who was setting out the pies, and dragged him forward. “This is Loki, he made the buns.”

Melody tore off a strip and took a bite and as it registered with her tastebuds, she closed her eyes and groaned in pleasure.

“This is so good!” Melody enthused, noting that Red was biting straight from her roll because she was still holding Loki’s arm. “You could sell these,” she told Loki, taking another bite.

Loki considered the idea. It would allow him to stay at the inn and help out and still earn a little money. 

“So how are you feeling?” Melody asked. 

“I’m almost completely healed,” he replied. 

“I’m glad,” she smiled at him. “It’s about time we had a survivor. Maybe this town’s fortunes are finally changing.” 

“I hope so,” he told her. “So do I get one of my rolls?” he asked Red. 

“No,” she shook her head. “These are mine.”

“If he’s going to sell them, you should let other people try them,” Melody added.

“No!” Red gasped, holding the basket tighter. “Mine!”

Loki laughed and finally stepped away from Red. He wheeled the cart down to the other end and uploaded the pin of cider, then taking the three pewter tankards from the cart, he filled them. It was probably the only time tonight they could be sure of what they were drinking as after this, it would become a free-for-all. No one minded as it was quite nice to try new things. 

Both ladies watched him with an appreciative eye. 

“So are you and he…?” Melody asked. 

“What? No, he’s…” her words trailed off. “No.” 

“So you don’t mind if I ask him for a dance?” 

Red took her friend's arm and smiled at her. “Even if we were together, I would never deny you a dance.” 

“Aww,” Melody leaned in and they bumped shoulders. 

“Watch out,” Juliette said as she joined them, causing Melody to look over Red’s shoulder.

“His Lowness is on his way.” Melody groaned.

Red’s shoulders slumped but she smiled at the nickname. 

Loki returned and handed Red one tankard and Juliette a second.  

“Can I get you something?” Loki asked Melody. 

“Thanks but if it’s all right with you two, I’m going to slope off before Little Lord Blowhard gets here.” 

“Go,” Red urged. “Run. Save yourself!”

Faruk strolled over a moment or two later to survey the offerings on the food table, arrogantly sneering at the plain peasant food. He picked up a pasty and took a bite.

"Faugh! There's no meat in these pasties! I simply don't know why anyone would bother with this shite!" He exclaimed petulantly as he dropped the half eaten pastie back onto the table.

Red turned as red as her nickname and as she fought to hold back her anger at his arrogant dismissal of her friends. Luckily Juliette stepped between them  and smiled at faruk with an entirely false, sugary sweetness.

“Why Faruk, I know this poor fare is not up to your standards, but it really is all these people have to share. They give freely to their friends and family, as much as they are able. I'm sure a fine gentleman such as yourself is able to appreciate the efforts that these poor people make to care for each other and to contribute to everyone's enjoyment of the evening! Perhaps you'd like to try a cup of my mother's apple cider?”

Faruk was clearly tempted, Loki could read that in his expression, but he didn't want to seem too eager for peasant food. 

Red clutched her basket tighter, no way was he getting one of Loki’s buns!

“Perhaps you’d prefer your own fare,” Loki suggested. “I’m sure it far surpasses anything else on offer.” 

Red elbowed him in the stomach and with a glare, Faruk headed down to the drinks table, from whence Melody beat a hasty retreat. 

“What was that for?” Loki whispered as they walked away. 

“The Melvilles never bring anything,” Red explained. 

“Why?” 

Red shrugged. “I guess they don’t want people touching their stuff, or maybe they feel it’s their due as the Mayor’s family. It’s been going on for so long now, everyone just accepts it.”

“And they stay all evening?” 

“Yeah.”

“Right to the end?” he clarified. 

“I think so. Angra usually makes a small speech at the end and by then everyone’s so drunk, they cheer her. Why?”

“Oh, uh, I’m just stunned by the gall of the town’s wealthiest family freeloading off the citizens all night. It’s not right.”

Red’s expression said that she agreed. “Luckily everyone brings spare, so no one goes hungry because of it. Don’t say anything, it isn’t worth it.”

The musicians were tuning up and Loki turned towards the stage where a fiddler, a flute player and a harmonica player were tuning up while a tambourinist shook his jingle jangles. 

When he turned back he caught sight of someone glaring at them, specifically at Red and Juliette, with a look of pure disgust on her face. Faruk was standing beside her and she was slightly removed from the crowd, as if above them, so Loki guessed she was the Mayor. He would swear they were discussing Red but although his hearing was sensitive, he wasn’t close enough to hear what they were saying. 

Red finally relinquished Loki’s cinnamon rolls and placed the plate of them out on the table, stashing her basket below. 

“Come on,” she said, taking Loki’s elbow. “I’ll introduce you to some of my friends.” 

***

“So will he turn?” Faruk asked his mother. 

“A bite turned you, your father and your brother, so even if he is healing slowly we have to assume that he’ll turn, too.”

“Then we have to kill him before the full moon.”  

Angra looked at her son, then returned her gaze to her other son’s killers and their new pet. 

“Or we can let him turn and you can hunt him down, and become a hero to this town for catching one of those terrifying wolves.”

Faruk liked the sound of being a hero. 

“What if he’s too stong?” 

“Your father and I will be there to help, but you will claim the credit. We’ll make up some excuse for you to be in the woods-”

“What?” 

“I don’t know, but we have two weeks left so we’ll think of something good.”

“What about the other wolf, the one that attacked Father?” 

“Hopefully it was just passing through but if not, we’ll be out there together, we can handle two between us.”

“And we’re sure Loki isn’t the wolf?” Faruk asked.

“You said he was still healing a week later and you saw how quickly your father recovered from his injuries, so he can’t be a wolf.”

“I wish Dad remembered more. That wolf really did a number on him.” 

“Of course it did, your father doesn’t have your drive and ambition,” she said with scorn as she watched the man  in question cavorting around in the square like any commoner. If it wasn't for the discussions that went on at this awful event, she wouldn’t even come, but people had a tendency to plot when they gathered in groups and she couldn't afford to be left out. She knew she wasn’t popular with everyone in this town so she had to stay vigilant. 

Killing another wolf should cement her son’s place in the town, as well as her own, of course. 

She looked away from her husband, wondering if it wasn't time to put him down, too. He’d be out of her hair and two wolf kills would ensure Faruk’s position as her heir for life. 

On the other hand, Faruk did seem to have a bothersome love for the man and would be devastated, so maybe not yet, maybe she’d wait until their image needed a boost again. She turned her gaze back to Red and Juliette, the only people that she hated more than her husband, and who were now introducing Loki to various people, as if he was going to stay!

“You would never let another wolf savage you so!”Angra continued. “On the next full moon, I’ll be there too. Between us we’ll wipe out the threats and cement your position as the next leader of this town.”

“Then I can take Red as my bride.”

Angra gave him a look of disdain but she looked back to Red before he noticed. 

“She may be your bride, but she will never be your equal. Remember that.” 

“Oh yes, but she still owes this family for what her father did to Peet.”

“She does, and I know you will exact a fitting price for your brother’s life.”

The musicians began to play a familiar tune and dancers took to the center of the town square. The dances were simple repetitions of the same 8 to 12 bars of music so even an idiot could pick them up, but it irked Faruk that Loki learned the moves so easily. 

“Two weeks,” Angra reminded him. “Just two weeks and he will be out of the picture and she will be all yours.”

Faruk smiled. He could wait 2 weeks.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Loki stood at the side of the square, enjoying watching Red dance with young Dev. He was a skinny, awkward teen with an obvious crush on Red. She clearly sympathised with the angst of being not quite an adult, and was laughingly doing everything she could to put the boy at ease, joking and teasing.  She was obviously completely oblivious to the boy's crush on her. Loki watched fondly as Red showed the boy the steps of the dance. Dev might have learned them faster if he could have taken his eyes off her face.

Loki had agreed to let Dev dance with Red on the basis that Dev introduce him to his father, the miller. Melody’s idea of making cinnamon buns had really interested him and he wanted to find out what it would cost to make them commercially. It may be prohibitively expensive and even if not, he would not make a fortune from it, but he liked the idea of being a baker. He had noticed what the local baker made bread, rolls and iced buns only. There was room for his mother’s dessert recipes so perhaps in time, he might even open a shop- 

The thought stopped him cold and he wondered when he had begun thinking about staying here, and among humans no less. And what if Red’s Gran was just crazy? That would mean that Red wasn’t a supernatural, and as such he could never tell her the truth about himself...

But wasn’t he getting ahead of himself here? He hadn’t even kissed her yet. Hell, he didn't even know her real name!

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and noticed Faruk looking around the crowded square, his expression turning sour when he spotted Red. 

***

Faruk looked around for Red to find her dancing with the Miller's son, a whelp of only 12 years or so. His eyes narrowed and he growled in his throat at the young pup daring to put his grimy hands on  _ his _ woman.  Faruk started off to show her what a real man was. Loki slid in front of him, intending to stall him but with no real plan as to how.

“Faruk,” he grinned, lifting his flagon, trying to appear a bit tipsy. “It’s good to see you again.” 

Faruk stepped back, trying to distance himself from the undesirable. 

“Yes,” he said with disdain as he made to go around, but Loki again stepped in his path. 

“I wanted to thank you for checking up on me, that was very kind of you, ‘specially considering how busy your family must be running the town..”

“It was nothing.” Faruk looked as though he was trying to wave him off as he batted the compliment away, but Loki ignored his flapping hand as if he were oblivious. 

“It was to me,” he slurred very slightly, “and I realised later that I hadn’t enquired about your father. He took a fall recently, did he not?”

“He did, yes. How did you know?” Faruk eyed him suspiciously. 

“I heard Red talking about him with her mother, hoping he had a speedy recovery.” Loki blinked owlishly.

“It was nothing, barely a scratch.”  Faruk scowled at the drunken oaf.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

The song ended and most of the dancers dispersed for a drink and a cool down, so with a final, and very cordial “Well, thank you again,” Loki gave him a slightly loopy grin and moved out of Faruk’s way, knowing Red had probably spotted him and made herself scarce.

***

Red smiled as Dev politely and properly conducted her to back to her mother, his hand on her lower back, intimately.

He was just a boy, but she found herself so pleased with him that she turned and dropped a kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you for the lovely dance.” she said.

Dev turned red,  muttered a thank you of his own, and turned abruptly to return to his gangly friends on the other side of the square, where he was greeted with hooting and congratulatory punches on his arm. Juliette glinted at Red.

“Cradle robber!” 

“Oh hush, Mother! You know that I'm not…”

Juliette laughed.

“Of course not, darling!” She turned Red towards the dance floor. “Now if you would like to choose someone more suitable…”

Red's eyes came up to meet Loki's.

“Mum…”

She watched as Loki moved through the crowd and extended a hand to her.

“Come dance with me.”  

Her breath caught as she placed her hand in his. He was warm to the touch and the sensation momentarily robbed her of the power of speech but her smile and taking his hand seemed to be answer enough. 

The dances so far had been loud and energetic but as the musicians played the first few bars, Red realised this was a more sedate number, where they could hold each other a little tighter and actually converse if they wanted to. 

Loki took a few repetitions before he had the steps down, but he was a quick learner, and towards the end when they spun around, Loki pulled her closer and closer as he attempted to spin them faster and faster, fitting three spins into the space of two. This never failed to make Red laugh and Loki was eager to hear more, it was such a beautiful sound. 

Sadly the dance came to an end and although Loki would have stayed for another dance, the musicians announced a short break and made their way over to the refreshments table, so Loki escorted Red to the edges of the square. 

“That was fun,” Red said, still grinning as they began to wonder around the edge of the gathering. 

They passed by what was affectionately called the biddy section, which was the area where the elderly or infirm, who brought their own chairs with them, sat down and chatted, and they found themselves being waved down by Mrs Caly. Red made the introductions and Mrs Caly then took her hand. 

“I began to think you might never find the one,” she smiled at Red. 

“Oh, I-” she blushed. “I mean, we’re not like that, together like that.”

Mrs Caly laughed. “If you say so, Red, but gentlemen don’t wait around forever you know, you must make your feelings known.”

Both Red and Loki were hideously uncomfortable at being put on the spot but Loki was used to covering his feelings and with a gracious farewell, he led Red away. 

“I’m so sorry,” Red said, edging them closer to the houses around the square and away from the crowds. “They don’t mean any harm-”

“They aren't wrong, Red. I think you know I like you.” 

Red blushed and nodded. 

“There are just…” he sighed. “There are things about me that you don’t know.”  _ ‘Things that you can’t know,’ _ he silently added, ‘ _ not unless your Gran really is psychic and she’s right in saying you are like her.’ _

And if she wasn’t a supernatural, could he live as a human, never giving in to his desire to run free? 

“What kind of things?” Red asked. 

“Things about my family,” he answered as honestly as he could. “Nothing bad, but things that might change your opinion of me.”

Red didn’t know how to reply to that. 

“I just… I need some time to work everything out,” he tried to explain. “Can you give me that?” 

“Of course I can.” She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder for a moment. “I’m sorry this is hard for you, but there’s no need to be scared about how I’ll react. I might not know you well, but I trust you.”  

Loki’s heart skipped a beat at her words. He was a master at hiding his emotions so how did she know he was afraid of her reaction? 

He wasn’t scared of her, exactly, only of what might happen if he judged things wrongly. 

Even if she did accept him for who he really was, if he told her he was a wolf and she wasn’t a supernatural, then he was effectively painting a target on both their backs. If other wolves ever found out, they would both be killed. 

“You’re not the only one with secrets,  you know,” she teased. “I have secrets too.”

“Do you?” he played along. “Then pray tell, what are they?” 

“Well then it wouldn't be a secret any more.”

“True, but the curiosity will drive me mad, and you wouldn't want to drive me mad, would you?”

“I don’t know,” Red laughed. “Right now it’s looking quite appealing.”

“You’re mean,” Loki gapsed in mock shock. “Give me a hint?”

“My name,” she replied with a smirk. “And before you go asking everyone, I doubt anyone here remembers! I’ve been called Red by everyone for as long as I can remember.” 

“So don’t I get to know your name?” he asked.

“You’ll know my secret when I know yours,” she smiled, clearly meaning her words to be a gentle tease but they left Loki feeling more melancholy than expected at the idea that she was keeping a secret from him, even a totally innocuous one. 

He found a smile for her nevertheless. “I could tickle it out of you?” 

“I’m not ticklish.” 

Loki leaned in close to her ear and whispered “You’ve never been tickled by me.”

He felt the shiver run through her and it made him oddly proud for someone who was still intent on moving on. 

She turned to him but he hadn’t moved away and their lips met in an awkward, open-eyed kiss that nonetheless left them both weak in the knees. They pulled away quickly but didn’t step back from each other. 

Red was wondering if his accidental kiss felt like that, what would a real one do?  

Loki was debating the wisdom in finding out. 

Curiosity eventually got the better of them both and they moved closer. Eyes closed this time, their lips met in a sweet and innocent kiss. Then there was a second, then a third with slightly parted lips. 

Their fourth was interrupted by drunk revellers who jostled them and they remembered that they were in public and broke apart. 

“Wow.” Red touched a hand to her lips. 

“Yeah,” Loki breathed. 

“That was…”

“Yeah.”

Loki had never felt anything like that before, it was as if she had touched his soul not just his lips. There was something else there, almost like a feeling of recognition. 

He felt breathless and lightheaded, as though they had been dancing and cavorting, not just kissing. 

“I’m thirsty, are you thirsty?” Red asked, seeming as affected as he felt. 

“Yeah, I could use a drink.” 

They headed over to the tables to find that their tankards where where they left them and Loki poured them both water, surprised to realise that he was actually thirsty. 

Things felt a little awkward as neither of them knew what to do in light of Loki’s earlier words. They both wanted to do it again and they both knew that they shouldn’t.

Red finally broke the tension when she spotted the tanner’s young teenage son emptying as many abandoned tankards from the table as possible before he was spotted. She elbowed Loki lightly and they shared a grin at his antics. 

“I used to do that after the tavern closed,” Red admitted. “Well, I did it a few times, the hangovers just weren’t worth it!”

“My brother and I would steal my father’s beer and find an empty meadow to share it. We never seemed to steal enough to get anything other than a gentle buzz going though.” 

By unspoken agreement, they both put their unfinished water back on the table, sharing a smile as they imagined the teen’s face when he tried them and got only water.

Red took his arm and they went to see what was left on the food end of the table. 

Loki looked behind them and noticed both that the musicians were on the stage again, and Faruk was baking a beeline in their direction. Although he hated to do it, now might be a very good time to enact his plan. Most people were quite merry and he was far less likely to be noticed, so he didn’t warn Red of Faruk’s approach. 

“Little Red, my dearest,” Faruk called as he got close and Red stopped dead and closed her eyes, steeling herself to face him. She took a deep breath and with a smile plastered on her face, turned to face him. 

“Faruk, I do hope you’re enjoying yourself.” 

Faruk spared a scathing look for Loki, but there was a touch of smugness in his expression, as if Faruk was about to get one over on him, and Loki didn’t think it was just the dance he was about to ask for. 

“Might I have the pleasure of this dance?” Faruk extended his hand and had evidently decided to blank Loki. 

Loki almost jumped in and said ‘I’d be delighted’, but he knew he mustn't allow himself to get too cocky. Unlike Faruk and his inability to hide his smirk, Loki wasn’t going to let slip that he knew anything was going on. 

Instead as they turned he caught Red’s left hand behind his back and gave it a squeeze in solidarity.

“Of course.” She slipped her hand into his and as he bent over to place a wet kiss on her knuckle, only Loki noticed her shudder of revulsion. 

Fark led her away, prattling on about something or other, and Red glanced back at him, her expression asking to be rescued but Loki only offered her a smile. 

Even assuming he did decide to move on and not remain here with Red, he still couldn't let Faruk know his plans so he had to make Red play along for a little longer. 

As they began dancing Loki slipped into the crowd and found the boy, Dev, to whom he offered a proposition. 

***

Loki watched as Red and Faruk left the dance area, he took a swig of the beer in his tankard, swishing it around his mouth so his breath stank of it, then he maneuvered himself until he was nearby but not too close. 

He watched as Faruk kissed her hand again and left her with her mother, then he made some small talk that the women smiled politely through and finally, with one last kiss to Red’s knuckle, he turned and walked away. Loki smirked as Red furiously wiped the hand he had kissed against her skirts. 

Dev appeared as if from nowhere, running a mile a minute to catch up and as discussed, he ran right across Faruk’s path and fell to the ground. 

“Watch where you’re going!” Faruk yelled, as he stumbled to avoid tripping over the boy. 

Loki came upon them, knocking into Faruk with his shoulder and grabbing him to keep himself upright. 

“Hey, is there a problem?” he asked. 

Faruk winced at the smell of beer wafting over him and tried to pull away. Loki pretended to stumble. 

“Nothing you can help with! This idiot almost knocked me down.” 

“Well he’s the one on the ground so I’d say he’s paid for his mistake.” Loki offered Dev his hand to help him up. “You okay kid?” 

Dev nodded. 

“Say you’re sorry to the nice man.” 

“I’m sorry Mr Faruk.”

Loki ruffled his hair and turned to Faruk. 

“See, no problem.”

Faruk seethed but Loki just looked confused and clasped his hands behind his back, a small silver coin held between his index and middle fingers.. 

“It was just an accident.” He hid his smile as Dev took the coin and disappeared into the crowd. “Kids aren’t very coordinated.”

With a look that could kill, Faruk turned and stormed ff in the other direction. 

Loki put his right hand in his pocket and felt the keys there, the ones that a moment ago had been hanging from Faruk’s belt. 

It was time to make his excuses. 

***

Red had watched Loki’s exchange with Faruk and wondered how Loki got so drunk. She turned away and walked back towards the refreshments table.

“Red, can I have a word?” 

She turned to Loki and put a smile on her face. 

“I’m feeling a bit sore so if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to head back to the inn.” 

He seemed perfectly fine now, as sober as she was in fact, and she’d only had a couple of mugs of cider, which was rather weak by most people’s standards. 

It was clear to her that he was up to something, she just didn’t know what. 

“Of course,” she sounded concerned. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, stay and enjoy the party. I’m fine, just a little tired.”

“Of course, well you go and look after yourself and I’ll see you in the morning.”

He smiled warmly at her. “Thank you.”

He left and Red headed directly for her mother. 

“Hey, sweetie, are you having fun?” 

Red turned until she could see Loki leaving over her mother’s shoulder. 

“Actually Loki invited me for a walk so…”

“Go,” Juliette smiled seeming very pleased by this fictional development. “Walk, tell stories, laugh, have fun.”

Red breathed a sigh of relief at her mother being so understanding and on impulse, kissed her cheek. 

“See you later.” 

“Take your time, I won’t wait up.”

Red sprinted off after Loki, who had disappeared from the north east corner of the square. The inn was accessed from the north west corner so she knew he wasn’t heading home. 

She reached the corner and slowed as she rounded it so she could easily duck back if Loki was looking behind himself. 

He was about fifty feet ahead of her and heading straight. She followed as quietly as she could, glad that the fire pits, which used to be lit around the town for lighting, were kept dark these days due to the cost; the darkness was easier to hide in.

Loki turned left then right, but Red had no idea where he could be heading. 

Luck must have been on her side because each time Loki looked back, she managed to already be hidden, like she had some kind of sixth sense or something and knew when to duck into a doorway or an allyway. At one point he turned around and seemed to stare into the pools of darkness but although he looked right at her, he didn’t seem to see her. Then he seemed to sniff the air and finally, he resumed his course. 

They were getting close to the wall now and he had to stop soon, unless he was just taking a walk. Maybe he really was sore and thought that he could walk it off. 

But that didn’t explain him pretending to be drunk, or his suspicious behaviour on this walk. 

Finally he turned left and crossed the road, heading for the Melville’s house! 

He looked around, then opened the door so quickly that he must have had keys. 

So that was the point of playing drunk around Faruk!

She waited wondering if he was going to come out, or if she should follow him in. She wanted to follow him, but then she’d be breaking in and if he was caught, she would be too. 

Time ticked by and eventually, her desire to know what was happening became greater than her fear of getting caught. She ran across the street, praying he hadn't relocked the door once he was inside. He hadn’t and she opened it as quietly as she could and stepped inside. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Loki wasn’t sure what exactly he was after. 

Proof for his own peace of mind would be good. 

Better would be something like the entrance to a tunnel which he could follow, then he would know where to wait for the thrice-damned bitten wolves outside the wall and could ambush them. It wasn’t a very fair fighting tactic but then it was three against one, which also wasn’t fair. 

Best of all would be to find a book titled My Plan For World Domination, but somehow he doubted even Faruk was dumb enough to do that. 

He stepped carefully, listening for a different sound underfoot that might signal a trap door. He also stayed alert for rogue breezes which might signify a false door; a candle would be better at detecting a rogue breeze but he couldn’t risk lighting one.

In what appeared to be a study he found a door, it was not disguised but it was locked. It might just be an innocent cupboard, or stairs to a basement but he had to find out. He took Faruk’s keys out and tried them, the third one opened the lock.  

The room was small, perhaps five feet by seven, it had probably been some type of large storage closet originally, but now it housed a macabre collection of other people’s possessions. 

Loki searched and it didn’t take long to find his own comb, but his purse was a different matter as there were hundreds of them and the faint moonlight through the window wasn’t good enough to see well by. This closet wasn't as helpful as a tunnel but it was absolute proof that the Melvilles were guilty of robbing and killing travellers. 

“What the hell are you doing in here?” a voice hissed and he turned sharply, shocked to see Red standing in the doorway. Belatedly he realised that he should have locked the doors after himself. 

“I can explain,” he whispered urgently and held up a placating hand.

“You’d better, and right this instant or I’ll summon Angra and tell her that you were in her home.”

But he couldn’t explain because he couldn’t tell a non-supernatural the truth, and he hadn’t thought to concoct a lie. On the other hand, how could she possibly have followed and snuck up on him if she weren’t supernatural herself? He knew without a doubt that no clumsy human would have been able to track him without detection.

“How did you get in here?” she tried again, which he hoped meant that she didn’t want to go through with her threat to fetch Angra. 

He held up the keys he had taken from Faruk. 

“Did you steal those?” she asked. Having seen those keys clipped to Faruk’s belt many times before, she recognised the rabbit’s foot immediately. 

“Yes,” he replied truthfully. 

“Why?” she demanded her voice rising. 

“Ssh!” he hissed. “I’ll tell you everything, I promise, but not here.”

“Yes here! Right now, in fact!” she whispered harshly.

“All right,” he sighed, knowing when he was beaten. He pulled her into the room and closed the door behind her, affording them at least some privacy should the family return prematurely. “Faruk and his family aren’t like other people, Red, they’re supernaturals.” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. The defensive gesture told him that on some level, she knew the truth. 

“These,” he gestured to the shelves, “are trophies of the people they’ve killed.”

“You’re saying Faruk is a serial killer?” 

“Not exactly.” He realised that she was going to make him say the words. “He’s a werewolf, or one of them.”

Her mouth dropped open for a moment before she recovered from her shock and closed it with a snap of teeth. 

“Werewolves are a myth, Loki.” She said as patiently as she could, as if speaking to a small child.

“To most people, yes. But the myths came from fact. Werewolves have and do roam this earth, they’re just better at hiding themselves these days.”

“You’re insane!” She gave a hollow bark of laughter but it sounded more like a sob. Either he was actually insane, or he was playing some cruel game with her. She thought she would prefer insane.

“No I'm not, and deep down, you know it,” he tried to explain. 

“I know no such thing!” 

“Yes, you do,” he said with certainty. “You say that marrying Faruk is inevitable and that you will do it to allow your mother to rest, but we both know they’re just the lies you tell to comfort yourself into believing that you have a choice.” 

“No,” she backed away. 

“That’s why the fiery Red I’ve come to know doesn’t stand up to him. You’re frightened of him, terrified of pushing him too far because you recognise how much malice there is in him, and you know he wouldn’t hesitate to kill you or your mother to get what he wants.”

Her back hit the door but she made no move to leave and nor did Loki approach her.

“The time for lies is over, Red, especially the ones you tell yourself,” he said, holding his comb up for her to see, the one he had told her was missing from his saddlebags. “This is mine. Look around you, these things all belonged to the travellers who were savaged on the road into town.”

She did look, and her eyes grew huge with the horror of what she was seeing. There was shelf upon shelf of personal possessions, clearly taken from many different people at many different times, because there was no rhyme or reason to the collection, nor did anything match. A hip flask sat next to a book. A hunting knife sat beside a solid silver bangle, and there were far too many leather purses to count. 

“My God,” she gasped, her eyes filling with tears as the truth and the scale of the tragedy hit her. 

“You might not have known exactly what he was before,” Loki went on, his voice softer now. “But now you’ve heard the answer, you know it to be true.”

“There’s so much of it.” Red whispered as she picked up the closest item, a leather bound book, running her hands over it, feeling the imperfections and wondering who had owned it. Had they had a family? 

She put the book down and took a step further into the room, picking up another item at random, this time a leather covered, pewter hip flask. Her fingertips traced the indentations as she wondered who had owned this. Did their family miss them? 

She next picked up a leather case and opened it to see that it housed a very small drawing of loved ones, a woman and her daughter. Her fingers traced the indentations on the back of the case as she thought how awful these women must feel, to have a loved one go missing and never know what had happened to them. 

She was transfixed by the faces of this nameless family and a terrifying feeling washed over her, like pure dread, only she didn’t know why. Her fingertips continued to trace the underside of the wallet for a few moments, and then she froze. 

Everything she had picked up had identical indentations. 

She turned the wallet over and even in the low lighting, the two deep indentations were unmissable. They were almost like toasting fork prongs, but further apart, more rounded.

She picked up the hip flask. The two points hadn’t made as much of an indentation because the leather covered pewter, but they were still there, two on each side. She picked up the book and found the same marks. 

She went to the purses since they were all leather and each and every one had those puncture marks… just like the bites on her father’s arm, where he had tried to defend himselffrom the wolf. 

She didn’t believe in werewolves, they were fairytales, stories told to amuse and frighten children… but how else did she explain those indentations in everything if they weren’t from a wolf’s canines? 

But if they were real, and if the wolves were the Melvilles, that meant-

She gasped and sank to the floor. 

She wasn’t aware of Loki replacing the items she had moved, nor did it register when he picked her up and not even the awkwardness of him trying to lock the doors with her in his arms could pull her out of her grief. 

She could feel a sob welling up, full of both sorrow and anger, the kind of wail that’s so piercing that it gives other people goosebumps and makes them thankful that they do not know such grief. On some level she knew that she should hold her grief inside but she was no longer functioning on a conscious level, she was governed only by pain right now. 

Loki was smart enough to realise that Red was minutes, maybe seconds away from a full blown meltdown and while he didn’t begrudge her that, they couldn’t afford for people to see her in such a state, so he ran as quickly as he could towards the river. 

Almost everyone seemed to be at the party in the town square and it had been a long time since the streetlights in town had burned, so Loki was able to make it to the river in record time, using some of his preternatural werewolf speed to help him. With Red cradled in his arms, he took her into the tunnel under the mill. 

Her breakdown began with some high pitched keening, then she began to shake. Loki stopped by the mill wheel and sat down on the narrow path, his legs dangling over the edge and Red secured in his lap. He held her tightly as she began to sob, great wails of grief wracking her small frame. 

Red was replaying every time she had spoken with the Melvilles, their false sympathy after her father died, every time she forced herself to be polite to Faruk, and she began to shake as she recalled each time she had allowed his horrible, wet kisses on her hand. Without conscious thought she began scrubbing the knuckles of her right hand against her skirts, trying to wipe any trace of him off her. 

She felt contaminated and she didn’t even notice when the top layers of skin rubbed away and tiny droplets of blood began to form, but Loki noticed the coppery scent and grabbed her hand before she could do herself too much harm. 

She fought his grip but she was no match for him, not even in his weaker human form. 

He continued to hold her and to speak softly to her, whispering soothing nonsense in her ear and finally her sobs began to slow. She sat in his lap, cradled against him and letting the sound of his heartbeat soothe her.  

“I’m so sorry, Red,” he told her.

She didn’t reply and the silence stretched out between them.

“Let’s go out to the woods,” he suggested knowing how much she liked being outside. “I’ll go back and get the key.” 

“I have the key,” she replied, her voice dull and monotonous. 

“Then come on.” 

With surprising agility, he got to his feet with Red in his arms and set her down on the path, then she allowed him to lead her around the mill wheel and she followed him along the river, handing him the key to the grate when he asked for it. 

Her semi-catatonic state worried him but he recognised that she’d had a terrible shock and tried not to worry too much. 

As they emerged from the tunnel into the woods, he took a deep breath of the clean woodland air, and noticed Red do the same. Loki went to the blackberry bushes and began to pick some for her, collecting them in a pouch he made by holding the hem of his shirt up, hoping that the sugar would help her. 

She followed behind him, making no move to pick any berries herself and seemingly not looking at anything. Once he had a few handfuls collected in his shirt, he guided Red through a small gap in the bushes and to an old, fallen trunk, then he sat her down and handed her a few blackberries at a time, instructing her to eat them and taking a few for himself.

Once his supply was gone he tucked his shirt back in then sat down beside her, hoping that she came back to herself soon. 

He had begun to wonder if she would ever speak when she finally broke the silence. 

“We have to tell the town,” Red said, her tone still flat.

“We can’t,” he argued. “They wouldn’t believe us.”

“I believe you.” 

“Because you’re like your Gran, you can see below the surface.”

“That room will prove it,” she replied, slowly becoming more animated. “And even if they don’t believe us, they still have a right to know. The Melvilles run everything of importance in this town, and they've been getting rich off the misfortune they created. Every time they bought someone out who was leaving, I thought they were helping, but really they were just stealing a business for a fraction of its worth, weren't they?” 

“I think so.” 

“And all those purses,” she wiped away tears. “They all had money in them, all the ones I picked up. They don’t kill for the money.”

“Would it be better if they did?” 

“I could at least understand it, even if I don’t agree with it. But they… they’re killing for pleasure, aren’t they?”

Loki nodded in agreement. “I suspect it may have started as robbery but then they got a taste for killing.”

“How many?” she asked rhetorically, as her tears began to fall again, but silently this time. “They killed my father, didn't they?” 

“Yes.” 

“It was revenge, wasn't it? Because he… he killed Peet, didn’t he?” she wiped her tears away. 

“Your father couldn't have known the wolf was Peet, but yes I think they killed your father in retaliation.”

Her tears fell harder and for a moment he thought she might break down again. Instead she seemed to catch herself and steady her breathing. Then her breathing stilled and she froze for a moment, before she looked over at him. 

“How? How do you know all this?” she asked, an unspoken accusation in her eyes. 

Loki met her eye but he couldn’t reply. 

“How did you survive?” she went on. “What makes you so special that all those people whose possessions we saw died, but you lived?”

“Red...” he was silently begging her not to judge him, not to fear him. 

“You’re one of them, aren't you?” she finally accused. “That’s how you know so much?” 

“I’m nothing like them!” he answered, his voice firm but not loud so as not to frighten her. “They’re bitten wolves, my people are different.”

“What’s a bitten wolf?” she demanded. 

“A person who is attacked by a werewolf but not killed becomes a bitten wolf, but they’re very rare, Red, please believe me. Bitten wolves are vicious rogues. My people would kill them.”

“So  _ you’re _ not a werewolf?” 

His eyes pleaded with her to calm down and listen, because he knew that as soon as he confirmed that he was a wolf she would fear him, just as she feared them. He could hear that her heart was already beating as fiercely as any prey he had hunted down in the past.

“Please don’t.”

“You are, aren’t you?” 

“Don't do this, Red, I beg you.”

“Tell me the truth!” she demanded. “Are you a wolf?”

“Yes.” 

“This is  _ your _ fault!” she yelled. “ _ Your _ people turned them into monsters and my father is dead because of YOU!”

Loki reared back as if struck, his anger finally rising as she goaded him.

“Blaming all weres because the Melvilles murder is like blaming a knife because it’s been used to kill. It isn’t the wolf part of them that’s the problem, wolves don’t kill for pleasure, ever! It’s the human side of them that craves the high of killing. Being bitten might have brought the evil in that family to the surface, but it was there long before they became wolves!”

For a beat Red just stared at him, then she scrambled away as quickly as she could, nearly tripping over an exposed branch in her haste to get away from him. 

Although it went against every instinct he had, he let her go. No good ever came from chasing down a frightened woman. No, he would return to the Inn and hope that Red made it back safely. 

With a sigh he rested his elbows on his knees and buried his head in his hands. 

This was not how he wanted her to find out.

***

Red’s lungs were burning, but she kept running, certain that Loki was just a hair’s breadth behind her and about to close his jaws around her neck at any moment. She could almost feel his breath on her skin, that was how sure she was. 

“Whoa girl!” 

Suddenly something tripped her and she somersaulted over, landing on her back, winded. She looked up and saw her grandmother standing over her. 

“Sorry about that, lass, but you looked determined to run all night long.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

“Gran, we have to go, he’s coming.” Red scrambled to her feet and took her Grandmother's arm, desperately pulling, hoping to convince her to run. 

“Nonsense,” she said, easily resisting Reds efforts to pull her, to the point that Red began to look confused. At least it meant her head was clearing. 

“Wh- what are you even doing out here?” 

“Looking for you,” she answered, as if wandering the woods was the most normal thing to do in the middle of the night.

“How did you know I’d be out here?” 

“After everything you’ve heard tonight, you’re still going to deny my gifts?”

“You knew!” Red gasped. “And you didn’t tell me!”

“Who are we talking about, exactly?” Gran asked with a somewhat smug expression. 

Red frowned since that accusation could apply to the Melvilles or to Loki. 

“Come on now,” Gran urged, taking Red’s arm and placing it on her elbow. “Let’s get you home.” 

Red allowed herself to be led but she still had questions, even if her coherence seemed to have deserted her for a moment.

“Gran?” 

“All right, yes, I knew about the Melvilles.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“You weren’t ready to believe me, nor was anyone else in that town. Creatures like me and the wolves have long been confined to the pages of fiction.”

“You- you’re a wolf too?” 

“No!” Gran cackled. “But Werewolves aren't the only supernatural creatures out there. There are nymphs and sprites and some say even a dragon or two survived the purge, in the less populated regions of the world. Me, I’m a witch, like you, which is how I know what the Melvilles are.”

“But if you know and I’m a witch too, why didn’t Dad know?” 

“Because your Dad didn’t have the gift, darling, only women have that.” 

“Why didn’t you tell him? Warn him?”

“You think I didn’t try? You think I haven’t been trying to tell you all for years? But people don’t believe what they haven’t seen with their own eyes and so no one believed me. I’m just the crazy old bat that people gossip about, even to my own son.” Her voice cracked on the last sentence and Red forgot to be frightened for a moment. 

“No, you’re wrong, Dad loved you, Gran,” she insisted. 

“Aye, I know that, lass,” Gran patted her hand as silent tears fell. “But he didn’t believe me.”

She sighed and looked ahead. 

“After he died, I stopped trying to tell you. He didn’t mean to but when he killed the wolf, he painted a target on you and your Mam, and I couldn't risk you believing me and doing something silly about it. I couldn't lose you too.”

Red turned to her and pulled her into a hug as they cried for the man they had both loved dearly. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.” Red sniffled.

“Not your fault,” Gran assured her. “Times have changed, people don’t believe like they did in the old days.”

They finally pulled away, both crying but heartened by the new connection they had formed. Arm in arm, they headed back towards the town. 

“So why didn’t you tell me about Loki?” Red asked, but without the accusing tone of before. 

“Because Loki is a good man, and just what this town needs.”

“You think he can stop them?”   

“I think he’s the best chance we have.”

“Your witchcraft can’t do anything?”

“Oh if I had a coven, surely there is, but while one lone witch might evade a single wolf, facing down three is a sure way to die.”

“Can we find a coven?” Red asked. 

“If you know of a third witch, then yes.” 

For some reason, Red thought of Loki’s mother. 

“What do yo know about Loki? He said he was different to the Melvilles.” 

“I think I should let him explain that,” Gran said, and Red realised they were approaching the log they had been sitting on before, and Loki was still there. Her heart jumped but only for a moment as she recognised the truth in her Gran’s words. Loki  _ was  _ a good man.

“Evening, lad,” Gran said as they approached. 

He’s head whipped up at her words, his expression heartbroken and his eyes shining with tears, although he quickly schooled it into something neutral. He sniffed the air as they approached. 

“Why don’t you have a scent?” he asked. 

“That’s Red,” Gran explained. “She might only just have accepted that she’s a witch, but she’s always had access to some of her power, unconsciously.”

“She’s hiding her scent?” he now realised how she had been able to follow him and catch him unawares in the Melville’s home.

“Hiding everything, scent, sound, that’s why I spoke up as we got near, so we didn’t give you a heart attack.”

“I’m sorry for frightening you, Red.”

Red was unable to speak, both because she was still a little afraid, but mainly because she felt guilty. Hadn’t she told him not an hour ago that she trusted him? Then she’d turned around and blamed him for her father’s death. 

The heartbreak on his face when he first looked up had cut her to the quick, especially when she realised that he obviously hadn’t been chasing her; he hadn’t moved at all. 

“Your gifts will be stronger now you’ve started to admit the truth,” Gran told Red. “Go with your gut, once you learn how to listen to it, it’ll never let you down.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” Red told him, and the relief on his face melted her remaining fears and she found herself running to him. He stood up in time to catch her. 

“I’m sorry, Loki, I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I don’t know why I did that, you’ve been nothing but kind to me, and I can’t believe what I said to you. You didn't deserve that.”

“You had a terrible shock,” he reminded her. “You didn't know what you were saying. I didn't want you to find out that way.”

“So you did want me to find out?” she asked, pulling away and looking up into his eyes. 

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But as the days wore on, the urge to tell you grew stronger and stronger.”

“But when you said you couldn’t tell people, it sounded like more than because they won’t believe you.”

“I can’t tell humans,” Loki clarified. “But you’re a witch, even if you didn’t know it.”

“I think it’s time Red had her questions answered, don’t you?” Gran asked as she stepped into the small clearing. 

“Of course.” Loki guided Gran onto the log so she could have a rest, then he sat on the ground opposite. 

He expected Red to sit next to her grandmother but she sat on the ground facing him, her back to the trunk. She wasn’t sitting beside him but Loki knew the gesture of putting herself on his level was important. 

“I’ll start at the beginning,” Loki said. “About four hundred years ago was an event we call the purge. Humanity turned on the supernatural creatures living among them, populations all over the world all seemed to turn on us, and within a few decades we were dead and the remainders driven into hiding. 

“Wolves, like me, now live in packs. We keep to ourselves and only mix with people when we need to buy things from them. Our roads are unpaved, our communities unsigned and we live only with wolves or other supernatural creatures. It’s for that reason that we are forbidden to tell humans about werewolves, or any other supernatural creature. 

“That’s also the reason we don’t allow bitten werewolves to exist. First of all, they haven’t grown up in our culture, they didn’t learn to fear humanity, as we did. The second reason is because very few bitten wolves handle the change well. Many turn into savages, sometimes slaughtering whole villages and they’re a big part of why humanity turned on us. Your wolves seem more controlled than most bitten, but they’re probably the deadliest I’ve ever met.”

“Wait, if they need to be bitten, then how can they all be wolves?” 

Loki’s expression was terribly sad. “Because whoever was bitten and survived, bit the others.”

Red gasped, her hand covering her mouth. 

“I’m what’s called a born wolf. We’re stronger, faster, and more naturally gifted when in human form. The bitten retain hardly any wolf senses while in human form.”

“But Peet was barely a teenager, he hadn't even hit puberty yet, why would they bite him so young? And why let him in the woods when there’s a hunting party looking for them?” The questions bombarded Red and so she bombarded Loki with them. 

“Born wolves can change at any time in the month, day or night, or they can choose not to change, not ever if they wish. The bitten can only change during a full moon and although they can resist it, the urge to change is far stronger in them. Peet was a youth and he probably found the urge to change overwhelming. Perhaps they had no choice but to let him out, because they could hardly let him howl in their home where people might hear, could they? As for why they turned him so young, I can’t answer that. Perhaps he found out their secret and threatened to tell. Maybe he was badly injured and they knew he would heal miraculously fast if bitten. Or maybe they bit him at birth for their own sick reasons.”

“It just doesn't make sense,” Red lamented. 

“Nor does killing innocent travellers, but they do that too, just because they can.”

“Wait! Won't they smell you in their house?” 

Loki shook his head. “The bitten have heightened senses in wolf form but in human form, their sense of smell is the same as anyone else, and I don’t think I have such terrible body odour that it will linger.”

“So if you heal so quickly, then how come Mum saw wounds on you a week later?”

“Because I bit myself again  that morning. I had to make Faruk believe that I was not the wolf his father met in the woods, that I was another traveller caught in the crossfire. The only way I could think to do that, was to still be healing.” 

She relaxed and thought for a while. 

“But wait, won’t they be expecting you to become a ‘bitten’?” 

“Probably.”

“So they’re just going to let you become a wolf too?” 

“I doubt that. I expect they hope I will move on before the full moon and when I don’t, they will find a way to kill me.”

“They’re going to try and make you a scapegoat,” Gran butted in. “One of the possible futures I saw earlier this evening had them burning you in the town square and claiming glory for killing another wolf.”

“One of?” Red asked her. 

“The future isn’t fixed,” Gran replied. “Any decision we or others make could alter it, so there are many possibilities. My task is to find which one is the most likely and in this case, try and stop it.” 

“They won’t get a chance to kill me,” Loki assured them. “Born wolves are stronger, faster and bigger and the only reason they were able to attack me before is because I was caught off guard and then stunned me when I hit my head on a rock. Plus this time,  _ I’ll _ have the advantage of surprise.”

“What were you looking for in their house?” Red asked. 

“A tunnel, ideally. I thought that if I could find out how they got out of the town, I could lie in wait for them.”

“The town is full of underground tunnels!” Red looked excited for once. “Things like the water and sewage pipes, and there are flood pipes too, which will carry the river water away if it gets too high.”

“How do we find them?” 

“Well the river tunnel is the only one I know the entrance to, but I can ask around. Oh! Or we can look in the library! It housed the village plans; everything from individual home plans, to the wall plans.” 

“Housed, as in past tense?”

“Well it’s closed down now but everything should still be in there, gathering dust. I’m sure we can get in.”

Loki considered it for a moment. “It would make more sense for them to follow an existing tunnel, rather than to build a brand new one.”

“We’ll look tomorrow,” Red assured him. 

“We have two weeks to come up with a plan,” Gran reminded them, “that’s plenty of time. The market comes Wednesday, then next weekend Faruk and his father will leave for the weekend. That would be a good time to check any tunnels you find.” She looked to Loki. “Will you be able to detect their scent after three weeks?”

“Unless the tunnel has flooded in the meantime, yes.”

“No floods coming,” Gran assured them. 

“Okay, that sounds like a plan,” Red smiled.

“Hardly a plan, but the beginnings of one at least,” Gran reminded her. “It’s still one wolf against three, you and I need to help even the odds for Loki.”

The name Frigga flashed in her mind again and Red looked to Loki rather and answering her Gran. 

“Loki, your Mum, she isn’t a witch, is she?”

“She is.” He looked both surprised and pleased that she had known that. 

Gran leaned sideways and from the corner of her lips hissed. “I told you you were psychic too, didn’t I?” 

“That's what that is?” she turned to look up at her grandmother. 

“In part. How else do you explain knowing things you couldn’t know? And don’t worry if other inexplicable things start to happen; now you’ve accepted the truth some things will start to happen on their own. Don’t worry, you won’t have access to enough power to do any damage until you’re trained a bit.”

“Okay.”

“Why did you ask about my mother?” Loki wondered. 

“Gran said we need three witches to make really strong spells and when she said that, I thought of your mother for some reason. Could she get here in time to help?”

“I’m certain that she can,” Loki replied with a smirk on his face. “Although I may have to raid your Gran’s pantry.

Red considered asking what that meant but decided that on balance, she had learned enough for one evening. 

“You two should get back,” Gran said, getting to her feet. “It’s gone midnight.”

“Really?” Red sounded shocked. 

“We should see you back to your cabin,” Loki offered. 

“I’m fine, Lad,” Gran said. “There’s nothing in these woods that scares me, unless it’s a full moon, and that’s still a ways off.”

“Are you sure?” Red asked. 

“I am. Besides, you two need some time together.” 

Gran headed out of the clearing and Loki held his hand out to Red to help her up but when she turned to say goodbye to Gran, the old lady was gone. 

“Gran? Gran!” she called, hoping that the night had wallowed her up, not something more sinister. 

“Ssh, relax,” he placed a soothing hand on her shoulder. “She’s a witch.”

“You mean she just… poof?”

“Something like that, yes.” Loki chuckled at the description. 

They turned back towards the river and without thinking, reached for each other’s hand. 

“Are you all right with everything?” Loki asked. 

“Oh,” Red took a deep breath. “You’re going to have to be more specific than that.” 

“Killing Faruk and his family?”

Her expression hardened. “That’s the easiest bit for me. I only hope it’s painful and they suffer greatly!”

Loki knew it was just her grief over them killing her father talking and that she might well have doubts at some later point.

“And being a witch?”

“Ooh, now that one I don’t know about. It’s sort of exciting but also daunting. I don’t…” she shook her head as if to clear it. “I have no idea what it means yet.”

“You’ll get used to it,” he assured her. “Just take it one day at a time.”

“I know, it’s just… It’s so... ”

“Outside your frame of reference? 

“Yes! Exactly!”

“That will pass,” he assured her. 

“I hope so. I mean Gran said I needed teaching, but she didn’t say when she’d start or how long it would take or how we do it, I mean with the inn, I don’t really have time to keep running to her cottage every day and I can’t leave Mum alone and-” she groaned. 

“I think she might be giving you a few days to get used to things before she pushes you in the deep end.”

“What if I’m already in the deep end and floundering?” 

“Luckily for you, wolves are very strong swimmers.”

“How did you feel when you found out what you were?” 

“I always knew,” Loki explained. “As a child I couldn't control the urge to change on the full moon.”

“When did you get control?” 

“From about two or three, I think. Basically on each full moon they just used to put the pups in a pen together to play until we passed out.”

“But your Mum’s not a wolf?”

“No, she’s a witch, like you.”

They walked in silence for a while as Red tried to process how she felt and finally Loki felt compelled to ask about the other thing she’d learned that evening. 

“And... how do you feel about me?” 

Red looked over at him. In truth she didn’t know how she felt about him, exactly, she was too confused about everything else to put her feelings into words. Instead she smiled. 

“Reava.”

Loki looked confused. 

“My name. My Grandfather was called Reav-”

“Gran’s husband?” 

“That's him. Anyway, he died about a month before I was born, so they named me after him.”

“Thank you.” Loki smiled and squeezed her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m really sorry for those who have been reading and commenting loyalty but this story (and all my others) are going on indefinite hiatus. Writing has been a struggle for a while now and the last two things I wrote have been too awful to publish, including one I put my heart and soul into. It’s hard enough to try to write when you’re dyslexic, it feels like the world will laugh and ridicule me like my school did, and now I’ve lost all confidence in my ability. This is not a plea for comments or sympathy, the kind of help I need has to come from inside but right now, I don’t know how to fix it. I’m so sorry but I hope I've left this in a somewhat satisfying point.


End file.
